Cruelty to dancers

What's in “Igor‘s Room,“ (Igor being none other than Stravinsky), the new work by Konstantinos Rigos? The ans­wer is, two of his famous compositions, as part of a double-bill on Stravin­sky‘s music, both of which were first choreographed by the famous Nijinsky siblings: “Les Noces“ and “The Rites Of Spring.

“ Bronislava excelled in 1923 with “Les Noces“ while her ill-fated brother retained a legendary notoriety for the retrospective – in terms of space, time and costumes – yet ultra-modern, as far as movement was concerned, ballet of his “The Rites of Spring“ of 1913.
What remains to be said in 2005? I believe that it is a true folly to even bother to stage a group ritual in our times, because art, unless it is committed to a dogma, should look beyond over-simplistic views of faith, whether Christian, Pagan or any other.
In his version of the “Rites Of Spring,“ Konstantinos Rigos updates the story-line by “killing“ all the participants in the end, and by showing a priest dressed in a black gown, reminiscent of the dress-code of Western priesthood. The best moment of the work does not involve any of the over-athletic steps, the leaps and exhausting combinations, but the covering of ...