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Le Sacre du Printemps/ the Rite of Spring

Music: Igor Stravinsky.
Choreography: Vaslaw Nijinsky .
Plot: Igor Stravinsky and Nicholas Roerich.

Premiered on May 29, 1913 by the Ballets Russes in Paris (Th. des Champs-Elyseacute;ees).
Sets, costumes: Nicholas Roerich.

Dancers at the premiere: Maria Piltz (the chosen virgin).

In the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet since 1991 (premiered by Francoise Legrée, reconstruction by Kenneth Archer and M. Hodson).

The ballet represents a fertility rite, during which a girl is sacrified. It caused a big scandal at the Paris premiere, and was given only six times afterwards.
Leonide Massine made another version of it, using Roerich's sets, with Lydia Sokolova as the Chosen Girl, in 1920. Martha Graham danced this role around 1930.


Another version

Choreography: Maurice Béjart .
Set, costumes: Pierre Caille.

Premiere: in December 1959 in Bruxelles (Théâtre de la Monnaie), by the Ballet-Théâtre de Paris.

Dancers at the premiere: Tania Bari (the Chosen women), Germinal Casado (the Chosen man).

In the repertoire of the Paris Opera Ballet since c.1965 (premiered by Cyril Atanassoff and Jacqueline Rayet).


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Email: Estelle.Souche@cmi.univ-mrs.fr