A couple gliding across the ice in striped robes with the Star of David sewn on the front, music from the 1999 Academy Award nominee “Life is Beautiful” playing throughout the arena. Offensive or commemorative?
On Saturday in Moscow, Tatiana Navka and Andrei Burkovsky took to the ice to perform what some have called “a crime against elementary humanity”. The ice skating routine was undoubtedly some kind of tribute to Holocaust victims, or at least that is how the performers and judges of the celebrity ice-dancing show that airs on Russian television. But what about the rest of the world. The Holocaust is not an event to be taken lightly, and many found that this routine did just that.
Russia is under scrutiny by many across the globe for this routine as well as another from April that included a man wearing a Nazi uniform and a woman acting as a terrified Jewish girl. I don’t remember the last time Dancing with the Stars did a single Holocaust routine, let alone two within the same year. Perhaps Russia should back down and stick to more classic routines, ones that could not be found offensive to large groups of people.
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It is important to note that the routine was choreographed by a Jewish man, so I say there was no offense intended. The Italian film “Life is Beautiful” is a masterpiece of juxtaposition. The first half is about the couple falling in love. There’s slapstick humor and such, with the undertone foreshadow that the War is around the corner. When the second half shows the family destroyed by the Holocaust, having seen their prior happiness makes it all the more tragic. The juxtaposition of normal people consumed by an abnormal atrocity puts a human face on the Holocaust.
I think the ice routine was paying homage to that theme. A normal, happy family was torn apart by the Holocaust.
I agree with the point you made here about how the routine was choreographed by a Jewish man and so there was no offense intended, only commemoration. However, I think the other routine briefly stated in this synopsis sounds atrocious. A Nazi soldier and a terrified Jewish girl skating on ice? It seems far too morbid to me.
I found this extremely interesting so I went to find the video of the performance and while I can see how people would argue that the performance took the Holocaust too lightly, I don’t think it was purposeful. I really do think that this was simply a tribute to the Holocaust and served as a reminder of the beauty that people were still able to find despite experiencing the most horrific of circumstances.
While it may not have been choreographed with offensive purposes, the Holocaust is still recent enough that many people around the world still hurt from it. Controversial art pieces like this dance piece show how not everyone has the same definition of art as another. And while that is necessary for art to grow, it may come at a price of being offensive. The Holocaust is not something to be taken lightly at all, it should be discussed with the greatest amount of respect. But peoples ideas of paying homage and respect may be different than others, which I think is exactly what we see with this choreography.
I think it is a huge reflection on the nature of public opinion that the film “Life is Beautiful” could receive an Academy Award in 1999, and an ice routine choreographed in the style of this movie would face sharp international criticism in 2016. I believe that our tolerance for differing opinions has sharply decreased in the past 15 years. Our current society has a tendency to seek to take offense where none was intended.