Sasha Waltz: celebrating the rite

(© Bernd Uhlig)

Earlier this year, at the request of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, the German choreographer Sasha Waltz created a new version of The Rite of Spring to celebrate the centenary of its premiere by Nijinsky and the Ballets Russes. Over the last hundred years, the evocative power of Igor Stravinsky’s masterpiece has inspired countless choreographies, the most famous being those of Maurice Béjart and Pina Bausch. Sasha Waltz has paid an indirect tribute to both of these predecessors, while opting for a pared-down staging in the service of the body. In her version, the sacrificial ritual is the catalyst for a relational chaos that still speaks to us as powerfully as ever today. Brussels will see the premiere of a new version of the choreography created for the Mariinsky Theatre by Waltz. In the first part of its programme, the company will perform Jagden und Formen, a piece – to music by Wolfgang Rihm – premiered in 2008, in which the choreographer continued the experimental approach first developed in Radialsystem. The musicians are physically involved in the choreography: they and their instruments become its performers, alongside the dancers. A chance for the members of the Munt/Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, under the French conductor Franck Ollu, to demonstrate their amazing transformative abilities.

SASHA WALTZ & GUESTS: SACRE 13 & 14/9, 20.00, 15/9, 15.00, €25/40/45/60, De Munt/La Monnaie, Muntplein/place de la Monnaie, Brussel/Bruxelles, 070-23.39.39, www.demunt.be, www.lamonnaie.be