The Rite of Spring-Dance Essay

The Rite of Spring

Introduction

Prior to attending The Rite of Spring world premiere performance; I had no experience in physically attending a ballet. Since this was my first ballet performance, I expected the Wortham Theater center to be an enormous elegant building, filled with fancy-dressed individuals. To my amazement, that is exactly what I encountered when I entered the theater. Throughout the performance I developed a strong aesthetic and theatre experience due to having an open mind. Although I believed that one only needed to focus on the combination of the scenery and music to understand the choreographer, I decided to pay attention to the technique, body mechanics, and performance of each individual. It is through this attention that I was able to understand the choreographer, thus avoiding having a knee-jerk reaction. Additional information, such as what was visible on stage, the dance elements used by the choreographer, and prior knowledge of ballet also helped me understand what were the choreographer’s intentions in the performance.

Identification

The Rite of Spring world premiere performance is divided into three sections, with each section containing a unique set of characteristics that both differed and shared similarities among each other. Each performer carried out excellent technique. No sings of trouble, or lagging was shown throughout the performance. Each performer had a strong sense of control to each limb of their bodies. Whenever the moves became complex, each performer was able to rely on one another to execute their moves. The first two pieces of the performance seem to contain a mixture of mostly contemporary ballet style with classical ballet. Alternatively, the third piece is mostly set up in a classical ballet fashion. When analyzing what one saw and heard of the set up of the performance, one can begin to note what was similar and different among the three pieces.

The first piece opens up with light sky-blue background...