![The Rite of Spring: common ground[s]](/images/event_images/2023-rite-of-spring-program-banner.png)
“Gut-wrenching brilliance…[this cast] delivers Bausch’s shattering vision with devastating force.”
—The Guardian (UK)
“As the community of dancers build to a climax, a sense
of foreboding in the air, the combination of grace and visceral fury in their movement is electrifying.”
—The Times (UK)
“How would you dance, if you knew you were going to die?” This is the central question asked by the late choreographer Pina Bausch of her dancers in 1975 when she created her seminal work The Rite of Spring, which examines unyielding ritual when the sacrifice of a “chosen one” changes the season from winter to spring. This pioneering work, establishing her iconic approach, has gone on to become one of the 20th century’s most significant and important bodies of dance theater.
Faithful to Stravinsky’s visceral score, Bausch’s monumental choreography is given a thrilling new life by a specially assembled company of 36 dancers from 14 African countries. Danced on a peat-covered stage, they clash and engage in a wild and poetic struggle of life, ritual, and sacrifice that pays tribute to her unparalleled genius.
Rite is paired with a new work created, performed, and inspired by the lives of two remarkable choreographers, professors, and grandmothers: Germaine Acogny, the founder of the Senegalese École des Sables who is widely considered to be “the mother of contemporary African dance,” and Malou Airuado, who performed leading roles in many of Bausch’s early works as a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. This poetic and tender antidote to Rite reflects their shared histories, emotional experiences, and common ground.
Related Event
Making Space at the Armory: Salon: Seasons of Dance
Sunday, December 3, 2023 at 5:30pm
Tickets: $35 (plus fees)
With diversity moving into the mainstream and modern dance at a crossroads, pioneering artistic directors, choreographers, and dancers gather to explore the intersection between creative vision and cultural context in the art form.
New York Premiere
A Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables, & Sadler’s Wells production
The Rite of Spring
Choreography Pina Bausch
Music Igor Stravinsky
Set and Costumes Rolf Borzik
Collaboration Hans Pop
Restaging
Artistic Directors Josephine Ann Endicott, Jorge Puerta Armenta, Clémentine Deluy
Rehearsal Directors Çağdaş Ermiş, Ditta Miranda Jasjfi, Barbara Kaufmann, Julie Shanahan, Kenji Takagi
common ground[s]
Co-Choreographers and Dancers Germaine Acogny, Malou Airaudo
Composer Fabrice Bouillon LaForest
Costume Design Petra Leidner
Lighting Design Zeynep Kepekli
Dramaturgy Sophiatou Kossoko
Photo: Maarten Vanden Abeele
November 29–December 14, 2023
Wednesday, November 29–
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Tickets start at $35 (plus fees)
Monday–Thursday at 7:30pm
Friday–Saturday at 8:00pm
Sunday at 3:00pm
To view a full schedule of performances, click here.
Wade Thompson Drill Hall
View the seating chart.
This performance is approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes with one intermission.
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Masks are optional. To view additional COVID-19 Policies, please visit our FAQs page.
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