ABOUT
ART. HOPE. HEALING.
Art is a powerful tool that can be used when exploring difficult subject matter in the classroom, representing the human condition and the world in ways that are nuanced and deeply impactful. As a universal language, art can express stories of joy, sadness, courage, and fear, helping students understand the human experience in profound ways.
Louisville Ballet and the UK-JHF Holocaust Education Initiative have partnered to create the A Time Remembered Study Guide to help middle and high school educators integrate Holocaust curriculum in their classroom through an interdisciplinary approach. This in-depth, online guide uses excerpts from Louisville Ballet’s performance of Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project along with accompanying lesson plans and arts integration activities to examine the tragedy of the Holocaust.
Education is key in combating all forms of bigotry and hate. As antisemitism and Holocaust denial rise globally, the arts offer students a path to empathy and understanding in ways a textbook alone cannot. Through the arts, we can remember our past, and heal our future.
STUDY GUIDE
Lesson plans in this guide address multiple content areas for middle and high school students, including Reading and Writing, Social Studies, and the Visual and Performing Arts as it relates to the Kentucky Academic Content Standards.
Louisville Ballet is honored to share this FREE resource with educators. Click the image above to access the study guide.
LEARN MORE
In February of 2025, Louisville Ballet collaborated with Kentucky Opera on a production called A Time Remembered: Two Holocaust Survivor Stories. This multidisciplinary production featured Another Sunrise, a one-act opera about Holocaust survivor Krystyna Żywulska performed by Kentucky Opera, and the ballet Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project, inspired by the life of Holocaust survivor Naomi Warren, performed by Louisville Ballet.
Illuminated through the powerful story of Holocaust survivor Naomi Warren (1920-2016), Light / The Holocaust and Humanity Project takes the audience on a journey that shares Naomi’s story while making relevant connections to the present, told through the lens of dance. This full-length contemporary dance work follows Naomi’s path from a beautiful family with a rich culture and traditions to utter dehumanization — and along the way, we feel Naomi’s courage, resilience, and hope.
Choreographed and designed by Stephen Mills, Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project has been a project of his for the past 20 years. The production has toured both nationally and internationally, featuring both the 84-minute dance and community-wide discussions focused on the protection of human rights against bigotry and hate. The music is composed of works by a number of notable contemporary writers. The décor and dress is of today, and spare. The story of “never again” is a warning of which we must always be mindful and diligent concerning the protection of human rights against bigotry and hatred.
Light first premiered with Ballet Austin in 2005 and has been performed by many ballet companies since. Louisville Ballet was honored to perform the work at The Kentucky Center. The imagery and performance excerpts used in the lessons in this guide feature company artists of Louisville Ballet.
Light is an inspiring work of art and effective educational tool, translating difficult history into powerful movement. Louisville Ballet partnered with the UK-JFH Holocaust Education Initiative to create a comprehensive study guide for a lesson plan on Holocaust education, using the ballet to create an interdisciplinary approach.
Known for his innovative choreographic projects, Stephen Mills has created more than 40 works for companies across the U.S. and abroad. In 2005, after two years of extensive research, Mills led a community-wide human rights collaboration that culminated in the world premiere of Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. In 2006, Light was awarded the Audrey & Raymond Maislin Humanitarian Award by the Anti-Defamation League. Light has now been performed in five U.S. cities and in three cities across Israel. As a dancer, Mills performed with a wide variety of companies before joining Ballet Austin, where he is the Sarah & Ernest Butler Family Fund Artistic Director.
“I am grateful to Naomi Warren and the many survivors who shared their testimonies during the creation of this work. I am forever changed by this knowledge and hope that by my sharing Naomi’s story, others will be affected to fight indifference and intolerance when witnessed.” – Stephen Mills
Naomi Warren (1920-2016) grew up in Wolkowysk, a small city in Eastern Poland. In 1939, the war broke out — and by the summer of 1941, the Nazi army had invaded her hometown of Wolkowysk. The Nazis very quickly began systematically isolating, interning, and murdering the Jewish population. Naomi and many family members were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau in January of 1942. Arriving at the camp, Naomi was torn from her family. Her mother was selected for immediate liquidation. During her time in the death camp, she lost her husband, sister-in-law, and others. Naomi survived three years at Auschwitz, was transferred to Ravensbruck, and was eventually liberated from Bergen-Belsen. At the end of the war, Naomi settled in Houston, Texas, where she remarried and built a successful import business. She served on the boards of Holocaust Museum Houston, the Jewish Federation, and the Southwest Region of the Anti-Defamation League. Among her many honors are awards from the Jewish-American Committee, Holocaust Museum Houston and the Government of Denmark. In honor of Naomi’s 80th birthday, her family established the Warren Fellowship for Future Teachers at Holocaust Museum Houston.
SPONSORS
Thank you to the following for supporting arts education:
Production Sponsors
Jewish Heritage Fund + The Auerbach Family
Documentary Sponsor
William and Susan Yarmuth
Education Sponsor
Louis and Lee Roth Family
This project was made possible by a grant from The National Endowment for the Arts.
We would also like to thank the Trager Family JCC for their support.
