The Rite of Spring: A Failure and A Triumph

The Rite of Spring was the startling result of a collaboration between Stravinsky, Nijinsky (choreography) and Roerich (sets and costumes). In the immediate aftermath, it seemed to be a fiasco because of its riotous reception, but it proved to be the successful introduction of a new modernist aesthetic that cultivated ugliness and machine-like movements. We will trace the musical, visual and choreographical consequences of this new trend through several later Diaghilev ballets: Parade (Sati...