The Rite of Spring | Pina Bausch

common ground[s] | Germaine Acogny & Malou Airaudo
Thu 12 Jan - Sun 15 Jan
Thu 12 Jan '23
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Sun 15 Jan '23

Amare and Holland Dance Festival presents the iconic programme The Rite of Spring, with the famous choreography by Pina Bausch to the sublime music by Stravinsky, plus the duet common ground[s] by Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo, which they dance together. This production is a collaboration between the Pina Bausch Foundation, Ḗcole des Sables and Sadler’s Wells. After London, Paris and Canada, this major production is now visiting the Netherlands for an exclusive performance in Amare.

Check out our online programme booklet here

It’s both real and a work of incredibly structured dance, and here the dancers endow it with deep humanity and supreme skill.

The Guardian

Stravinsky’s masterpiece, an icon of modernity, has inspired multiple generations of choreographers with its exceptional earthly powers. Described by the composer as a “grand pagan ritual”, the work is also a milestone in the oeuvre of Pina Bausch. Over the course of a number of months in Senegal’s École des Sables, a team of dancers of Tanztheater Wuppertal relived and shared the essence of Bausch’s Rite choreography with 36 performers from 14 African countries. On a stage covered with earth, the male and female dancers clash and engage in a wild and poetic battle that culminates in the sacrifice of ‘the Chosen’. 

To open the evening, common ground[s] is a witness to the encounter between Germaine Acogny, first lady of contemporary African dance and founder of the École des Sables, and Malou Airaudo, a pioneering icon of Tanztheater Wuppertal. The fates of two women and two dance traditions intertwine to form a sensitive and poignant duet that reflects their bond and the wealth of their respective histories. 

This programme was made possible by the International Dance Fund (Fonds Internationale Dans, FIND). Amare, Holland Dance Festival and Nederlands Dans Theater combine their forces in this Fund in order to present high-profile international dance productions in Amare and to consolidate The Hague’s reputation as the country’s number one city of dance. 

This cast, a tight community assembled from scratch, is immersed in both wrenchingly abstracted and realistic movement. ★★★★ THE GUARDIAN

As the community of dancers build to a climax, a sense of foreboding in the air, the combination of grace and visceral fury in their movement is electrifying. ★★★★ THE TIMES

The Rite of Spring, exactly the same choreography that Pina Bausch premiered in 1976, seemed last night more tragic and spectacular, more thrilling and perhaps also, favourably, more out of control. EL PAÍS ON THE RITE OF SPRING

Free Introduction
Thursday 12 januari, 19:45 - 20:15: Introduction by Annette Embrechts (NL), location: Swing. 
Vrijdag 13 januari, 19:45 - 20:15: Introduction by Annette Embrechts (NL), location: Swing. 
Zaterdag 14 januari, 19:45 - 20:15: Introduction by Lot Siebe (taal: NL), location: Swing. 
Zondag 15 januari, 13:15 - 13:45: Introduction by Annette Embrechts (NL), location, Swing. 

Q&A after the performance
Thurday 12, Friday 13 & Saturday 14 January: 22:10 - 22:25: Q&A after the performance with Samuel Wuersten (managing director Holland Dance Festival), artistically involved persons and dancers (ENG/FR).

Performers

The Rite of Spring 
Choreography: Pina Bausch
Music: Igor Stravinsky
Set and Costumes: Rolf Borzik
Collaboration: Hans Pop
World Premiere: 3 December 1975, Opera House Wuppertal

Restaging  
Artistic Directors: Jo Ann Endicott, Jorge Puerta Armenta, Clémentine Deluy
Rehearsal Directors: Çağdaş Ermiş, Ditta Miranda Jasjfi, Barbara Kaufmann, Julie Shanahan, Kenji Takagi

common ground[s]  
Co-Choreographers and Dancers: Germaine Acogny, Malou Airaudo
Composer: Fabrice Bouillon LaForest
Costume Designer: Petra Leidner
Lighting Designer: Zeynep Kepekli
Dramaturg: Sophiatou Kossoko

A Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables & Sadler’s Wells production

co-produced with Théâtre de la Ville, Paris; Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; Holland Festival, Amsterdam; Festspielhaus, St Pölten; Ludwigsburg Festival; Teatros del Canal de la Comunidad de Madrid, Adelaide Festival and Spoleto Festival dei 2Mondi.

The project is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the International Coproduction Fund of the Goethe-Institut, and kindly supported by the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

Photos: Maarten Vanden Abeele © Pina Bausch Foundation