Le sacre du printemps

Most cultured people living in the West will be familiar with Stravinsky's "Sacre du Printemps" (Rite of Spring), complete with underlying narrative : in pagan Russia, a tribe meets up in order to welcome Spring through games, dances and celebrations. In a more terrifying register, the tribe also chooses a young maiden meant to become a human sacrifice. Here we've got Maurice Béjart's groundbreaking new choreography for the "Rite", performed by the Ballet for the XXth Century. It's a magnificent piece of modern dance, directed by Béjart himself. In Béjart's unique take on the "Rite", two primitive tribes live side by side, one entirely composed by males and one entirely composed by females. The male tribe is characterized by force, competition and energy ; the female tribe by silence, secrecy and tenderness. A male champion/victim is designated in order to mate with the female leader of the women. Obeying the irresistible call of the flesh, they meet and unite ; in doing so, they become more fully human, with the female gaining in boldness and the male gaining in tenderness. All of this is very far removed from a terrified maiden dancing herself to death and yet this is a forceful work which shares many of the same characteristics as Stravinsky's music, such as elegance, violence, surprise and inevitability. Note the absence of set elements or décors, which forces the viewer to focus on the dancers themselves. A superb performance, with an outstanding Tania Bari and Germinal Casado.