![\"Pina](\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/Pina-Bausch-Sacre-on-the-Beach.jpg\")
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I<\/span>n the annals of contemporary dance, German choreographer Pina Bausch (1940-2009) is among the exalted few. Her name is always intoned with the deepest of reverence. The visionary works that she created for her company, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, are still touring the world, enchanting and provoking audiences old and new, with her trademark exhilarating fusion of movement, sound and visual elements.<\/p>\n Had the global pandemic not happened, five Canadian cities would have been gifted with a performance by Tanztheater Wuppertal. This past fall, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver would have experienced one of Bausch\u2019s most iconic works, Nelken<\/em> (1982). Alas, that was not to be.<\/p>\n Happily, we five are still getting a Bausch fix, thanks to the initiative of Danse Danse, Montreal\u2019s premiere presenter of international dance. With the collaboration of the group\u2019s co-presenters \u2014 National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Canadian Stage and Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), Springboard Performance (Calgary) and Dance House (Vancouver) \u2014 Danse Danse has put together a Bausch package built around the choreographer\u2019s treasured The Rite of Spring (1975) for ticketed, online viewing. It may not be Nelken<\/em>, but it\u2019s a terrific substitute nonetheless.<\/p>\n T<\/span>he centrepiece of the program is a performance of The Rite of Spring<\/em> by 38 dancers from 14 African countries. The dance itself runs just 40 minutes, so Danse Danse has plumped up the offering with some homegrown goodies.<\/p>\n To begin, Danse Danse has put together a pre-show mini-doc, Les multiples visages du Sacre du printemps<\/em>, hosted by dance history teacher Val\u00e9rie Lessard from Ecole de danse contemporaine de Montr\u00e9al.\u00a0It is said that there are over 1,000 different dance versions set to Stravinsky\u2019s seminal score, and this short documentary features fast clips of myriad productions, interspersed with commentary from choreographers, including a delightful appearance by beloved dance iconoclast, Marie Chouinard.<\/p>\n This is followed by the film, Dancing at Dusk \u2014 A moment with Pina Bausch\u2019s The Rite of Spring<\/em>, which itself, is followed by Pina Bausch The Rite of Spring \u2014 Rehearsals at Ecole des Sables<\/em>. The former is the actual performance. In the latter, Salomon Bausch, Pina\u2019s son, and the head of the Pina Bausch Foundation, Jorge Puerta Armenta and Josephine Ann Endicott, former Bausch dancers who set the work, and several of the African dancers, talk to the history of the project, and the rigours of the Rite itself.<\/p>\n Finally, we are treated to a post-show interview conducted by Lessard, with Armenta and Germaine Acogny, artistic director of \u00c9cole des Sables, who helped spearhead the project.<\/p>\n All in all, I found these additions most worthwhile, because it gave context to the performance.<\/p>\n T<\/span>here are several stories afloat about where the idea for The Rite of Spring<\/em> came from, but all agree that composer Igor Stravinsky had a fleeting vision. What he saw in his mind\u2019s eye was a series of ancient rituals celebrating the coming of spring, and a young girl, the Chosen One, being the sacrificial victim who dances herself to death to appease the gods. In fact, the subtitle of the ballet was Pictures of Pagan Russia in Two Parts<\/em>, which Stravinsky called The Adoration of the Earth<\/em> and The Sacrifice.<\/em><\/p>\n In 1913, Serge Diaghelev\u2019s Ballets Russes presented the premiere of Stravinsky\u2019s score with choreography by acclaimed dancer Vaslav Nijinsky at Th\u00e9\u00e2tre des Champs-Elys\u00e9es in Paris. The evening has gone down in dance history as one of the most infamous performances ever. The dissonance and modernisms of the score, coupled with the earthy physicality of the choreography were too much for the fashionable crowd, the traditionalists, to take. When they started to shout at the stage, the bohemian crowd, the avant-garde, began shouting back at them, drowning out the orchestra, with the audience as a whole finally descending into chaos. Nonetheless, the dance continued without missing a beat.<\/p>\n Over time, Stravinsky\u2019s score has become one of the most beloved concert works in the classical repertoire. It has also long remained a lure to choreographers. The brilliance of Bausch\u2019s Rite of Spring<\/em>, which debuted in 1975, is how she captures the variations in the music. Every shift, every nuance, is translated into specific dance patterns which renders the score into visible motion. She particularly captures Stravinsky\u2019s driving rhythms with frenzied movement that at times is absolutely terrifying.<\/p>\n All of Bausch\u2019s works are about human relationships, and she sees Rite as a battle of the sexes. The men dominate, the women mostly cower, and this patriarchal oppression is made all the more horrifying with the death of the Chosen One, and the harrowing violence of her final solo. Of course, this description is just the tip of the iceberg as to what is going on in the piece. As a side note, Bausch programmed The Rite of Spring<\/em> every year, and rehearsed her dancers into exhaustion, demanding more and more intensity from them with each iteration.<\/p>\n![\"Pina](\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/10\/Pina-Bausch-SACRE_BEACH_05-c-polyphem-Filmproduktion.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Online Presentation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A Few Words About the Original The Rite of Spring (and a little bit about Bausch)<\/strong><\/h3>\n