THE RITE OF SPRING

POLISH NATIONAL BALLET (2011)

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, the Polish National Ballet organised a whole program focusing on Igor Stravinsky’s masterpiece THE RITE OF SPRING. Combining three distinct adaptations of the same piece – Millicent Hodson’s reconstruction of Nijinsky’s original choreography from 1913, Maurice Béjarts iconic version from 1959 and Emanuel Gat’s celebrated interpretation from 2004 – in one evening, director Krzysztof Pastor presented an homage both challenging and powerful.

Photos of THE RITE OF SPRING by Ewa Krasucka

It’s a kind of stunt, hearing in the ritual sacrifice of Stravinsky’s score the ritual of a crowded dance floor in which three women and two men engage in the Möbius-strip partnering of salsa and swing dancing. This reading of the score, if perverse and diminishing, is almost entirely persuasive — as it was when Mr. Gat’s company first brought the work to New York in 2006.

Brian Seibert
New York Times

Credits

Choreography: Emanuel Gat

Staging: Mia Alon, Roy Assaf, Michael Loehr

Music: Igor Stravinsky

Performers: Robert Bondara, Marta Fiedler, Alexandra Liashenko, Izabela Szylinska, Kurusz Wojénski

Produced by Teatr Wielki / Polish National Ballet.

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