HCM CITY — Russian composer Igor Stravinskly's The Rite of Spring ballet and orchestral work will be restaged at the HCM City Opera House on Saturday. 

The ballet was first choreographed by famed Russian dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky. It was performed for the first time in Paris in 1913, and has become one of the most popular dances of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The work features ballet, contemporary and folk dances.

It has been restaged in different versions many times by artists worldwide.

The Rite of Spring will be performed by artists of the HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO).

The ballet has been choreographed by Dutch artist Joost Vrouenraets, who has worked in different art projects launched by the HBSO.    

The ballet made its debut in Việt Nam at the Autumn Melodies Art Festival 2019, launched by HBSO in HCM City last month.

The event attracted hundreds of international and Vietnamese musicians, vocalists and dancers in opera, chamber music, and contemporary dance.

The ballet is a classic work, but audiences were surprised by the “youthful spirit” of the ballet, according to Vrouenraets.

Vrouenraets’ The Rite of Spring is inspired by people today who face challenges in economic, cultural, political and social issues.

On Saturday night, dancers will perform solo, duo, trio and in groups.

They will use props decorated as houses in green. They will dance in and out of the houses to highlight the dance’s theme: to be or not to be. 

“Vrouenraets’ The Rite of Spring is a typical work from the modernist area. Through the work, we want to prove that HCM City’s dance arts and dancers are at a high level, and we can now stage a challenging dance requiring difficult techniques,” director of the HBSO and Meritorious Artist Trần Vương Thạch said in August.

Choreographer Vrouenraets studied at the Amsterdam School of Arts and the Rudra Bejart School in Lausanne, Switzerland, before joining the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in 2004.

In 2005, he and his dance partner founded Gotra in which they form the hub, while individual dancers are recruited for each production.

Gotra has been invited to perform at numerous schools, companies and festivals, including the Festival Biarritz in France in 2009 and the Schrittmacher Festival in Germany in 2010.

Vrouenraets’s major original works include The Alchemist (2006), I Have a Dream… (2007), Turo (2008) and 5md (2009).

The Rite of Spring will be staged at 8pm on Saturday, September 14, at the Opera House at 7 Lam Sơn Square in District 1. Tickets are available at the box office. — VNS