Naomi Warren 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 invaded Poland. 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.

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Known for his innovative and collaborative choreographic projects, Stephen Mills has created over 60 premieres for Ballet Austin and has works in the repertoires of companies across the United States and around the world. His inaugural season as artistic director in 2000 attracted national attention with his world-premiere production of HAMLET, hailed by Dance Magazine as “… sleek and sophisticated.” The Washington Post recognized Ballet Austin as “one of the nation’s best kept ballet secrets” in 2004 after Mills’ world premiere of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, commissioned by and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The Company’s first Kennedy Center invitation in January of 2002 was to perform Mills’ A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.  Ballet Austin presented a variety of Mills’ works at The Joyce Theater (NYC) in 2005 and returned to the Kennedy Center in collaboration with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in 2008 and for the Ballet Across America Festival in 2013.  In 2005 after two years of extensive research, Mills led a communitywide human rights collaboration that culminated in the world premiere work LIGHT / THE HOLOCAUST & HUMANITY PROJECT (LIGHT). In 2006 LIGHT was awarded the Audrey & Raymond Maislin Humanitarian Award by the Anti-Defamation League. The work made its international debut in September 2013, with performances in three cities across Israel and is the subject of the award winning documentary film, FINDING LIGHT. In October 2016, Mills led the company through a 16-city tour of the People’s Republic of China, concluding in China’s largest city, Shanghai.

In 1998, Mills won the choreographic honor of representing the United States with his work, ASHES, at the Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine Saint-Denis in Paris. In 2004, his work ONE/THE BODY’S GRACE won the Steinberg Award, the top honor at le Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur International Choreographic Competition in Montreal. Mills’ ballets are in the repertoires of Hong Kong Ballet, Ballet Augsburg, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, Atlanta Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Cuballet in Havana, Cuba, BalletMet Columbus, Dayton Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, Ballet Pacifica, Dallas Black Dance Theater, Louisville Ballet, Nashville Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, The Sacramento Ballet, Eugene Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Dance Kaleidoscope. He has worked in collaboration with such luminaries as the eight-time Grammy Award-winning band Asleep at the Wheel, Shawn Colvin, visual artists Natalie Frank and Trenton Doyle Hancock, internationally renowned flamenco artist José Greco II, and composer Graham Reynolds. In 2020, Mills collaborated with filmmaker, producer, and former company artist Paul Michael Bloodgood to create the dance film PRELUDES/BEGINNINGS for which he received a 2021 Lone Star EMMY® Award.

As a dancer, Mills performed with the world-renowned Harkness Ballet, The American Dance Machine under the direction of Lee Theodore, Cincinnati Ballet, and Indianapolis Ballet Theatre before becoming a part of Ballet Austin. Mills danced principal roles in the Balanchine repertoire, as well as works by ChooSan Goh, John Butler, Ohad Naharin, Vicente Nebrada, Domy Reiter-Soffer and Mark Dendy. In addition to his work as a choreographer, Mills is a master teacher committed to developing dancers. His invitations to teach include Jacob’s Pillow, Goucher College, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts in Dallas, The Virginia School of the Arts, The New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, Stephens College Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Jacobs Pillow, Boca Ballet Theater, School of American Ballet, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Butler Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, and NW Professional Dance Project.

Mills is a member of the national dance service organization Dance/USA and served both in leadership roles and on the national Board of Trustees for the organization. In 2013, he became a Fellow of the Chief Executive Program of National Arts Strategies. Stephen Mills is the Sarah & Ernest Butler Family Fund Artistic Director of Ballet Austin.

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2x Lone Star EMMY®-winning filmmaker Paul Michael Bloodgood enjoyed a career spanning 20 years as a professional ballet dancer, performing in a myriad of principal roles in works such as HAMLET, ROMEO & JULIET, GISELLE, SWAN LAKE, LA SYLPHIDE, THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, THE FIREBIRD, COPPÉLIA, AGON, ALLEGRO BRILLANTE, an original cast member of LIGHT / THE HOLOCAUST & HUMANITY PROJECT, as well as originating “Beast” in Stephen Mills’ BELLE REDUX / A TALE OF BEAUTY & THE BEAST.

Bloodgood has a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and the Humanities from St. Edward’s University and is a SAG-AFTRA stunt performer with recent work in Martin Scorsese’s KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, Robert Rodriguez’s HYPNOTIC starring Ben Affleck, multiple episode appearances on seasons 5-8 of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD, season 2 of LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION, and DEEP SIX starring Tom Welling. Paul Michael has appeared in major feature films including Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS, Forest Whitaker’s FIRST DAUGHTER starring Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton, Richard Linklater’s BERNIE starring Jack Black, and alongside Mena Suvari and Jason Biggs in the Wheatus music video for the film LOSER.

Executive produced by Academy Award®-winner, James Moll (FOO FIGHTERS: BACK AND FORTH), Bloodgood’s feature film TRENCHES OF ROCK (2019) premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival, garnering the attention of festivals worldwide, receiving 14 accolades including multiple “Best Feature Documentary” and “Best Director” awards (available on iTunes / Amazon / Google Play / DirecTV). Paul Michael collaborated with choreographer Stephen Mills on the Lone Star EMMY®-winning dance film, PRELUDES/BEGINNINGS which premiered on Austin PBS to critical acclaim. Bloodgood’s FINDING LIGHT (2023) screened its world premiere at the prestigious Miami Jewish Film Festival and is an official selection of 15 film festivals around the globe and recipient of 11 accolades, including “BEST DOCUMENTARY” awards in Berlin, Rome and Madrid, “BEST HISTORICAL FILM” at Cannes World Film Festival, and the “AUDIENCE AWARD” at Film Pittsburgh’s JFilm Festival. In addition to Bloodgood’s feature films, he has over a dozen television commercial credits as director – including Lone Star EMMY®-winner, THE NUTCRACKER: Clara’s Paperdolls (2023) and VIDDY Award-winner, CINDERELLA: A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (2023).

A member of SAG-AFTRA since 2003 and a 4-time Austin Critics Table Award recipient, Paul Michael credits his extensive background in film, music, and dance for his approach to creative storytelling.

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