Adam McKinney, a Black Jewish choreographer, who attended Orthodox schools in Milwaukee, is the new artistic director of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.

“A question I often ask is this,” he said. “‘What can dance do other than entertainment?’ Not only does dance have the capacity to heal but, for me, dance has the capacity to fill in the blanks of history.” In that vein, he will oversee the premiere of a ballet about Florence Waren, a Jewish dancer who worked with the French Resistance during WWII.