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Pina Bausch The Rite of Spring

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A company of two dozen black dancers, all facing to the right, heads turned towards us or back over their shoulders. They float just above the ground, bare feet pointing towards the soil, as if they’ve just jumped straight up. The women wear soft slip dresses of creamy silk, while the men have bare chests and black trousers.

Bausch’s (1975) The Rite of Spring is danced by a newly assembled company of dancers from African countries. In this pioneering work, with music by Stravinsky, a ‘chosen one’ is sacrificed changing the season from winter to spring.

This production marks the first collaboration between the Pina Bausch Foundation (Germany), École des Sables (Senegal) and Sadler’s Wells (UK).

Due to a confirmed case of COVID in the company of common ground[s], we are no longer able to present that piece as part of the evening. The Rite of Spring will still be performed as planned. Ticket office is contacting existing ticket holders.

Dancing at Dusk
Dancing at Dusk, A moment with Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring, returns to Digital Stage to watch for free. Available to 11 July 2022.

The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] on tour
Following the season in London, this production will be on the road touring in Europe, the US and Canada. Find out more about where it will be performing next.

Image description: A company of two dozen black dancers, all facing to the right, heads turned towards us or back over their shoulders. They float just above the ground, bare feet pointing towards the soil, as if they’ve just jumped straight up. The women wear soft slip dresses of creamy silk, while the men have bare chests and black trousers.

Creative Credits:
The Rite of Spring
Choreography – Pina Bausch
Music – Igor Stravinsky
Set and Costumes – Rolf Borzik
Collaboration – Hans Pop
World Premiere - 3 December 1975, Opera House Wuppertal

Restaging
Artistic Directors – Josephine Ann Endicott, Jorge Puerta Armenta, Clémentine Deluy
Rehearsal Directors – Ditta Miranda Jasjfi and Çağdaş Ermiş, Barbara Kaufmann, Julie Shanahan, Kenji Takagi

A Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables & Sadler’s Wells production, co-produced with Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; Holland Festival, Amsterdam; Festspielhaus, St Pölten; Ludwigsburg Festival; Teatros del Canal de la Comunidad de Madrid, Adelaide Festival and Spoleto Festival dei 2Mondi.

The project is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the International Coproduction Fund of the Goethe-Institut, and kindly supported by the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

Supported by the Royal Victoria Hall Foundation.

Photo: Maarten Vanden Abeele © Pina Bausch Foundation

Nearest tube is
Angel

This cast, a tight community assembled from scratch, is immersed in both wrenchingly abstracted and realistic movement.★★★★ THE GUARDIAN

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

The Rite of Spring, exactly the same choreography that Pina Bausch premiered in 1976, seemed last night more tragic and spectacular, more thrilling and perhaps also, favourably, more out of control.EL PAÍS ON THE RITE OF SPRING

The energy and freshness of the young ensemble are as stirring and stimulating as Stravinsky’s music. This music has no age, just like the choreography has no expiration date.TANZSCHRIFT ON THE RITE OF SPRING

A ground-breaking example of the repertoire of Pina Bausch’s unique work. And it also shows its universal validity. The original choreography from 1975 remains unchanged, and yet clings to the body of the African performer as if it were tailor-made.TANZ.AT ON THE RITE OF SPRING

[The dancers] give the drama of the music a shape that is noticeably influenced not only by their “African” origins, but especially by the multitude of traditional and contemporary dance roots that the individual brings with them.ONLINE MERKER ON THE RITE OF SPRING

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