Preview

The Rite of Spring

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2063 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Rite of Spring
Gabriela Corona
SOA1310.20
Nelly van Bommel
October 1, 2012

Le Sacre du Printemps

Today The Rite of Spring is regarded as a revolutionary piece of music and choreograph. Its choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky, was born in 1889. He started his dance career after he joined the Imperial Ballet School in 1900, in which he studied under Enrico Cecchetti and Nicholas Legat. He took many lead roles until his dance career took a turning point, and met Sergei Diaghilev. He danced with famous Anna Pavlova, as a lead in the Ballets Russes in Paris, and also starred in Fokine's pieces "Le Pavillon d'Armide," "Cleopatra," and "The Feast." He then went on to choreograph his own ballets, such as "L’Aprés-Midi d'un Faune" (The Afternoon of a Faun) and "The Rite of Spring" ("Russian Ballet History"). Most of Nijinsky's works were created far before the time they could be appreciated. The Rite of Spring, however, led to modern dance. The music in this dance was composed by Igor Stravinsky, which also played a revolutionary role in modern dance (Anderson). The Rite of Spring referred as "Pictures of Pagan Russia" was first preformed on May 29, 1913 at the Theater des Champs-Elysees located in Paris. Most, if not all ballets, during this era consisted of mystical and fantasy like moves and story lines. Previous choreographs were composed of beautiful ballerinas which usually represented a mystical creature, such as Swan Lake. A girl played the role of a beautiful swan. The ballerina danced with beautiful grace in what is today known as classical ballet. The arms are beautifully kept up with minimal movement while the legs do most of the work, both lightly jumping and gracefully coming down. Beautiful twirls in which most of the time the dancers look as if they’re never on the ground. In these classical ballets, in which people were accustomed too, never had a story line that did not end happily. The Rite of Spring, however, goes a complete different direction. This

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    It is so many tthings that must happen for a ballet to be presented. The first thing is costumes. Dancers wear uncomfortable things all the time but they don’t mind…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Redlands Ritual Essay

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ritual Brewing is found in a warehouse district surrounded by nondescript buildings that don’t shout any business presence. Despite the signage on the outside, you might not know it’s there. Go inside and its a whole new world. Lots of space to hang out, or play a few rounds of Cornhole, Giant Jenga and drink some quality beer.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Term Dance

    • 1047 Words
    • 13 Pages

    __________________________ ballets came to the forefront in the nineteenth century, and were characterized by their use of mythical characters and places.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In 1909 Sergei and Diaghilev created the Ballets Russes and it was phenomenal. The company started with strong Russian formal tradition and attitude. In addition, in the 19th century a lot started to get even more interesting. For example in 1913, Nijinsky, a choreographer created a new ballet dance known as “The Rite of Spring”. This dance became surprisingly exiting because its name had the audience fighting and acting in all types of irrelevant ways. The 19th century was an actual revival and expansion of the Russian ballet dance form for it’s major final hit of the Ballets Russes was in 1921 and 1922 with Petipa’s version of the sleeping beauty.…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Performance wear has also changed over time. Some of the earliest ballet performances were Giselle and La Sylphide which were performed in the 19th century. Both were elegantly performed with the art of ballet and music. "It was concerned with the supernatural world of spirits and magic and often showed women as passive and fragile." (A Brief History of Ballet). Around the 20th century, choreographers from Russia tried new dance combinations to make ballet performances different and more interesting. This led to a dance called The Rite of Spring. Currently, people are putting a twist on classical ballet creating new dances each…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ballet originated in the early 1400’s and were described by an Italian named Domenico di Piacenza(history of ballet). Men were fully dressed in wigs, blouses, jackets and bloomers. While women wore…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Rite of Spring’s choreography and music combination kept me yearning for more. I most enjoyed the extremely emotional movements because they drew me in and made me ponder the underlying meaning of the dance. This dance was by far the most expressive one presented all semester. The frantic and sudden movements that interchanged with the soft and gentle movements flowed together and portrayed a frantic, yet elegant message. The type of mixed emotional energies and variation of movements is probably what drew the audience in most because of the sudden changes in mood.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Research paper rough

    • 1391 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The period from 1830‐1870 is considered the Romantic Period of classical ballet. Romantic is now used to refer to a specific style of movement that was popular during that era. Following the Romantic Period, Russian classical ballet took off in St. Petersburg in the late 1800s with the choreography of Marius Petipa and his associate, Lev Ivanov. In 1926, the Royal Ballet opened in England, with Sir Frederick Ashton as the choreographer. Ballet in America began in New York City with the formation of the Ballet Theatre (presently the American Ballet Theatre) in 1940 and the…

    • 1391 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Harlem Dance History

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “Our company is as strong technically as any professional ballet company,” says Virginia Johnson, artistic director for New York City’s Dance Theatre of Harlem today. The pas de deux from Act 3 of the ballet classic Swan Lake is, after all, part of the company’s repertoire. But, as Johnson explains, the Dance Theatre of Harlem strives for something different. “We are a neo-classical company. Our work is based on the idea of moving ballet forward and giving audiences today something that maybe helps them understand their own lives in a different…

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Swan Lake and The Rite of Spring are ballet performances with Russian backgrounds. Swan Lake, a well known classical ballet, was choreographed by Marius Petipa in the late 1800s. The Rite of Spring, however, was performed in the early 1900s with a contemporary twist on classical ballet choreographed by Vaslav Nijinksy. Both pieces presented numbers of similarities such as the dancers, symmetry on stage, the act of pantomiming and music. The dances contained the principals and the corps de ballet.…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The History Of Ballet

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the 19th century ballet took over the concept of Romanticism and became more of female dominated style of movement. The art became seen as more fragile and this is when the pointing of the toes and the tutu became regular. In the late 19th century well known dances such as the " Nutcracker," " Sleeping Beauty," and " Swan Lake" were choregraphed and staged. These dancers are used often today and influence many modern pieces.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ballet

    • 2354 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Ballet, in its distinctive form, emerged in Italy in the late 1500's. The Italian School of Ballet became a significant influence on ballet movement and structure. ("The Development Of Ballet in Western Europe") The movement became less horizontal and more elevated, creating the illusion of dancers floating as they move across the stage. Influenced by the gravity defying dance, extraterrestrial characters, such as fairies, gradually started developing amongst the ballets. ("History of Pointe Shoes and Technique") Ballet's structure intensified through Pierre Beauchamps' development of the five classic feet and arm positions commonly used in the present day. These positions keeps structure to the dance because practically every properly executed ballet movement begins and ends with one of these five positions. "First position: Keep heals together, turn feet outward in a straight line. Second position: Turn feet outward in a straight line, separated by distance of one foot. Third Position: Turn feet outward, place heels together one foot in front of each other. Fourth position: Turn feet outward, place one foot in front of the other on parallel line, separated by…

    • 2354 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    During “Waltz of the Flowers,” a part of The Nutcracker selection, the mood of rebirth and growth sept into the audience. The piece started very calmly with the dancers doing jumps about the stage. As the piece progressed, the jumps and leaps got grander and the movements became larger and more impressive, as the flowers “grew”. There were many long extended movements that slowly became faster and more impressive as the music grew louder. The dancers throughout the whole piece were smiling to show the growth of themselves, portraying a flower. For “Russian Dance”, another excerpt from The Nutcracker, the music started loud and intense, and the movements that the dancer did mirrored the music. The dancer, as the song continued, did many twirls and jumps which gave off the impression of a glorious win. Each of the movements were fast and sharp, with many high jumps added in. The dancer was once again smiling which showed the victorious dance to celebrate his victory.…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sacred Seasons

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages

    At the end of the last age, which was a kind of primal, cave painting/tribal drumming age of blood and stone, the last great shaman refused to die out along with the rest of his people and hung on and on, surviving the end of his age and the birth of the next one, his name... Lord Root. He is the only thing in the world that isn't meant to be and as a result he is able to bend and twist it into new and horrible directions. Imagine the world is a book written by the Great Mystery. One that ends 'and they lived happily ever after'. All of a…

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    History of Dance

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As stated earlier the 15th century was the beginning of Ballet. During the time of both the 15th and 16th centuries ballet was only performed in royal courts where performers would get the audience to participate. Male dancers were the majority of dancers during this time period. To portray women in their performances they wore masks.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics