The 1913 premiere of Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring created an uproar whose repercussions changed the course of dance and music in the 20th century. A hundred years later, two titans of the American performing arts have joined forces to create a thrilling new dance-theater performance that celebrates that legendary opening night.
A Rite is a collaboration between choreographer Bill T. Jones (a resident artist at Bard) and director Anne Bogart (a Bard alumna). Their respective companies of dancers and actors have come together to develop a contemporary response to Stravinsky’s masterpiece. A Rite explores the revolutionary context of The Rite of Spring, which premiered months before the outbreak of the First World War, and at the dawn of Cubism, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.
Bogart and Jones have woven a new libretto drawn from sources including the writings of physicist Brian Greene, the diaries of war veterans, and Stravinsky’s score. Visually stunning and exploding with life, A Rite is a meditation on aspects of time: the time of the cosmos, the time of a human life, time expressed in music and dance. A unique opportunity to see two legendary artists at work together.
