sarma

Although the “Rites of Spring” is always an interesting work, it is also perhaps a case of thematic saturation. This conclusion springs to mind (no pun intended) even when one watches exceptional versions such a that by Marie Chouinard (Canada). This attempt to compete with choreographies of extreme significance based on Stravinsky’s music such as Vaslav Nijinsky’s or Pina Bausch’s, though not the only ones, deserves our admiration.

Marie Chouinard follows tradition in transporting the action to a primeval civilization, but does not espouse at all the position which wants the/a woman to be sacrificed. Thus, the liberation which is imposed by the rites celebrating the awakening of nature do not lead to death but to a wild eroticism. The many changes including the move towards political correctness that have occurred since the work was first staged in 1913 have led to an ideological and aesthetic divergence. Thus, the choreographer allows men and women to participate equally in the explosive spring festivities only making occasional allusions to more traditional images of the two sexes. For about a quarter of an hour before the actual performance commenced, the dancers presented to the audience like “characters in the play” marching and moving according to the way we would experience later in the choreography of the Rites. This preamble showed how much dance can borrow from theatrical methods as far as the breaking down of conventions of the spectacle are concerned and still be an autonomous art. The movement of the kneeling dancers introduced us to the idea of an archaic community which was part of the action we would see. Flexible, triangular objects were fixed on the stage floor which, when lit, appeared to move and brought the mind back to the content of the performance. Like blades of grass, like nails but also like phallic symbols, those objects predisposed the spectator to think of violence, of the celebrations of nature, liberation and sexuality. The dancers’ movements happened on many planes, at times peculiar and personal, at times convulsive and angular, which reminded us of the dramatic images of Claude Brumachon or from the era of expressionist dance: modified and filtered through the changes that have taken place in dance over the years.

The excellent lighting was a live part of the performance. Helping in rendering meaning such as the agonizing moment when there was a possibility of a sacrifice proceeding, the dancers’ bodies were lit, thus creating the impression that the culmination of the action is imminent. The Rites of Spring by Chouinard was full of “painful” soli, explosions of energy, whilst the difficult and complicated combination of movements seemed to have been invented solely for the specific performance. Chouinard’s proposition dealt with the interpretation of the social involvement into the archaic action almost at a moment of accepted madness, which, though potentially dangerous for those present, does not lead to violence. A dense and complex work, it was one of the strongest presentations of the 6th International Dance Festival that took place in Kalamata. It is a work which can satiate the spectator’s intellect and linger in the memory long after the lights have gone.