Jewish Choreographer Blasts ‘Crazy’ Criticism of Holocaust-Themed Ice Dancing Routine

By Dave Goldiner November 28, 2016

It turns out the creator of a Holocaust-themed Russian TV ice skating routine is Jewish — and he’s defending the stunningly tasteless show against criticism he calls “craziness”

Ilya Averbukh on Monday told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid that he came up with the concept for the routine, in which the skaters wore striped concentration camp uniforms along with yellow stars of David.

“I would call all this reaction a sign of the craziness of today,” he told the paper, according to the Times of Israel.

The show was performed by Tatiana Navka, the wife of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, on an episode of the Russian celebrity skating show “Ice Age.”

It drew a wave of condemnation in Russia, Israel and in international media.

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at goldiner@forward.com, or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO