I know The Rite of Spring is something of an obsession of mine, but that’s already well-documented here.
YouTube is a wonderful thing. It is a fantastic resource for dance as you can generally find all manner of trailers, documentaries and complete performances from throughout the decades.
Anyway, YouTube suggested a new 2017 work called Kreatur, which then prompted Waltz’s version of The Rite Of Spring, which, although not entirely un-Bausch (shall we say) is marvellous. A version I would very much like to see performed live.
This inevitably prompted other versions of The Rite and then this popped up: a 1989 BBC2 documentary about The Rite and it’s recreation by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer for the Joffrey Ballet - generally accepted to be an authentic if incomplete version thanks to its painstaking reasearch of all elements, although the original ballet was quickly lost except to memory and documentation (and costumes and accessories, fascinatingly). The documentary also includes the full version of the ballet in all its painted, heavy-costumed glory.
I remember watching this documentary when it went out. I had long since read Nijinsky’s biography by Richard Buckle and become fascinated by the Ballet Russes and The Rite in particular. This programme brought it vividly to life for me. And it’s good to have the opportunity to see it again.