The Rite of Spring
Three weeks ago, I went to see the Rite of Spring dance performance with my friends Carol and Elias. It was absolutely breathtaking, to say the least. Put together by the Berlin Philharmoniker Orchestra, the performers interpreted the story behind Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Basically, the story was about a girl who danced herself to death because she thought that her dance would make the Spring come again. In the performance, accompanied by the discordant music of the Rite of Spring, dancers dance to the screeches and chaos of the music. As the music got louder and more unpredictable, the dancers waved their hands about their heads and jumped up and down to feed the chaos that was Winter. The choreography was absolutely wonderful as I was immersed in the dance and the story itself. A figure in white appears, Mother Nature, as the music changes suddenly to a more suspenseful tone signifying the coming of death. Someone needed to die. Towards the end, a girl in black emerges from the folds of the curtains as she dances through the somber and penetrating music of death. She was the martyr. Everyone on the stage runs off in fear as the music dies. She puts her arms around her to show that she is now trapped in her own dance and cannot escape. The music grows and grows wildy as there is no place for her to go.
Finally, she collapses to the floor and dies. Spring has finally come. The music turns back to a beautiful soft tune telling of birds and trees and Spring.
WATCH THIS PERFORMANCE!!!!! I guarantee you’ll love it.