The Rite RIOT of Spring It is the 100 year anniversary of the premier of The Rite of Spring and here at Southbank Centre we are excited to host Meryl Tankard’s The Oracle, a new adaptation of this illustrious work. But what is it that makes The Rite of Spring such a notorious, yet celebrated work? Join me as I explore the history of The Rite of Spring and some of the most memorable productions of it.
The orchestral concert piece and ballet The Rite of Spring was the masterful creation of the composer Igor Stravinsky. The score was debuted alongside Vaslav Nijinsky’s progressive choreography for the Ballets Russes at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, in 1913. Yet, this was no ordinary premier. As the music started and the dancers began to stomp across the stage, all pigeon toed and tribalistic, the crowd became discomforted, unruly, and even violent. The Parisian elite were stunned by what they saw: ballet dancers in Russian pagan clothing, not on pointe, but gyrating purposefully without grace or poise. As Alex Ross says, ‘Nijinsky’s choreography discarded classical gestures in favour of near-anarchy.’ These anarchic, pagan movements astounded the audience. Furthermore, the subject matter, a young girl selected by the elders to be sacrificed, was disquieting and shocked the audience.
Whilst the ‘bohemian’ artists, poets and musicians of Paris applauded the innovative dance and music, others laughed at the music and booed the dancers. Arguments broke out amongst the crowd, forcing the house lights to be turned on and off by the management and the more offensive elements of the audience to be forcibly ejected by the police and management. On top of which, Diaghilev who epitomised the statement ‘no press is bad press’ is widely accused of planting mercenary rioters throughout the hall!
For a dramatised version of events, take a look at the opening sequence to the 2009 film Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky.
Yet, people still debate as to what it was that the crowd took such a dislike to. The music or the dance? The controversy surrounding The Rite of Spring is something which has kept it alive since that night in 1913, with us celebrating its centenary this year. Despite such a disastrous start Najinsky’s production of The Rite of Spring went on to show in London, but after nine performances in 1913 it was never given again.
After Najinsky’s departure from the Ballets Russes and his demise due to mental health conditions, his choreography was seemingly lost. In 1920, when his replacement Léonard Massine came to reinitiate the Ballets Russes relationship with The Rite of Spring, it was found that little of the choreography could be remembered. As such, Massine choreographed a new version, although utilising the original 1913 stage design and costume by Nicholas Roerich. This time the world was ready for The Rite of Spring. Massine’s version was deemed more acceptable, perhaps due to the altered perceptions of the world after World War One, and travelled to the US in 1930 where Martha Graham took up the role of the Chosen One. It is because of this that various adaptations have come to fruition, giving The Rite of Spring, as a dance and a score, world-wide acclaim.
Over the next fortnight I will be chronologically counting down ten of the best, most intriguing and innovative productions of The Rite of Spring, culminating with a look at some of the current centenary celebrations. Join me over the next two weeks to delve into this iconic and sometime controversial production.
On the 22nd May literary mavericks will be taking over Spirit Level at Royal Festival Hall, because StorySLAM:Live is happening. StorySLAM:Live is a literary X-Factor-style battle, where writers consider the theme ‘Estates of Mind’ through imaginative, five-minute short stories as they compete for this summer’s prize.
We got an exclusive insight into this event from Joanne Donovan, the Artistic Director of StorySLAM:Live. Here is what she had to say about this creative writing event.
Tell me a bit about the history of StorySLAM:Live. How it came about, where the first one was and how writers responded to your call? The idea for StorySLAM:Live came, like most creative processes, through forming new connections between old ideas. A patchwork of influences and questions came together and resulted in our event. Poetry Slams, open Mics, The Moth in New York. All of these influenced and emphasised the gap for a prose event. These are some of the questions that came up.
Why are all these great stories I hear on the creative writing courses I attend just languishing in drawers and cupboards?
Where is there a space for writers to meet other writers and discuss the craft, that’s friendly, open to all and encourages conversation?
Where can agents and publishers spot talent?
From our very first event we attracted writers of the highest calibre; we have students from some of the best creative writing colleges in London as well as people who are writing alone.
StorySLAM:Live started at the Albany Theatre in Deptford, and we will be forever grateful for their support. As well as a platform for emerging writers, we also wanted it to be a good night out. Introduce @rizomorph on music and visuals and @daddydark as the MC to set the tone and we had our formula.
What are your personal favourites out of all the stories you’ve heard and why? That’s a difficult question. One of the magical things about StorySLAM:Live is the surprises. You never know what’s coming next. If I had to pick a personal favourite, then it would be a story called Sweat Rice, which is a great little piece by Janett Plummer about what happens when you wish too hard for something.
Who are the best types of judges for StorySLAM: Live? Who have been the best judges you’ve had and why? The best types of judges for StorySLAM:Live are experts in the literary industry. We’ve had many different judges at our events and the best ones have a knack of finding the strengths in the writing and then commenting on how it can be improved. If I had to name names I would say that Greg Mosse (he runs the Southbank Centres creative writing school) has always been a favourite with the audience. However, we were delighted to welcome Femi Martin as a regular to the panel at our last event and she is back for London Literature Festival by popular demand. We’re also lucky to have literary agent, Samar Hamman of Rocking Chair Books, as a regular member of the judging panel.
How does it feel being at Southbank Centre and how is it different to The Albany? We love our home at Southbank Centre. It gives our aspiring writers a chance to appear on stage in one of the world’s most iconic arts venues. We’ve worked hard with the production team at Southbank Centre to create a friendly intimate event that reflects the values we started with at Albany- so hopefully the magical experience has remained much the same.
Finally if you had one piece of advice for writers hopeful to read at StorySLAM:Live, what would it be?
Don’t try to squeeze a 10min story into a 5min slot. People are listening to you and you will ruin your chance if it’s rushed and garbled. Listen to some story readings on Radio 4 to get the optimum pace. And practice – use a simple video camera, or even your phone, to record and time yourself. If you want to win, the work has to go in.
We talked to Meryl Tankard the choreographer of The Oracle,which will be performed at Southbank Centre on Friday 31st May. This one-man show is beautifully performed by Paul White, acclaimed as one of Australia’s greatest dancers. It is set to The Rite of Spring score by Stravinsky, linking this production to the hundreds which have come before it, originating with Nijinsky’s version from 1913. Whilst Najinksky’s ballet caused riots at the premiere The Oracle has been heralded as ‘a tour de force for White and Tankard.’ – The Australian.
Meryl offers us an insight into The Oracle, talking about her career, her life and Tilda Swinton!
What were your biggest influences in the show’s creation? Initial inspiration came from the paintings of Odd Nerdrum [a Norwegian artist] and the atmosphere of Ingmar Bergman’s [film] Virgin Spring. The forces of nature. The strength and vulnerability of the human spirit.
Why is it performed by a single male dancer? I felt Paul White was capable of dancing alone to this powerful score. I wanted to challenge him and also myself.
Your selection of lighting, video and special effects in The Oracle is quite remarkable. Do you think that contemporary audiences have come to expect such technology? Actually there is not really anything too ‘high tech’ in the production. There is one video projector and no special effects. I really don’t know if audiences expect technology. They just want to be stimulated and touched.
What aspect of The Oracle are you most proud of? Many of Paul’s friends told me after opening night that they had never seen Paul move like that before.
Who would you say has most influenced your life and career? My mother, Pina Bausch and Regis Lansac.
If you had to pick a number one dance performance of all time, what would it be? Perhaps… actually dancing in Pina Bausch’s Rite of Spring in Calcutta, on the night the audience rioted during the performance. A group of men stormed down to the stage, shouting at us and stamping their fists on the stage. Someone turned all the lights off and we ran into our dressing rooms, petrified.
What are you most looking forward to about your show at Southbank Centre? I haven’t shown my work in London since 1999 so I am thrilled to be back!
If you could choreograph any dancer, living or dead whom would they be, and why? Tilda Swinton…she is simply stunning, and incredibly inspiring
How does it feel to give your Southbank debut…under the baton of your dad? Arianna Zukerman can give us a clue. On May 29th the forty-year-old American soprano hits the Royal Festival Hall, singing the solo in Mahler’s fourth symphony accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Her father, the world-renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman, will conduct.
‘I grew up listening to the way my father plays and the way he phrases, so I often know what to anticipate when we make music together. I aspire to speak his musical language,’ says Arianna.
She frequently collaborates with her father, who, in addition to conducting the Mahler, will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 3 in G in the first half of the concert. Off-stage, professional and family life are carefully separated. Much of Arianna’s time is now devoted to her nineteen-month-old daughter Veronica.
And, musically, she has always maintained her independence. As a child, Arianna was encouraged to discover her musical interests by her father, and her flautist-writer mother Eugenia, but their approach was to ‘wait-and-see’. She came to singing of her own accord. ‘Singing is different from playing an instrument in that singers can never see what’s happening technically,’ says Arianna, ‘unlike violinists who can see, for example, whether their wrists are too high on the bow. So there was enough mystery in singing for my father to leave me alone.’
Temperamentally too, she and Pinchas make very different first impressions. While Arianna is very measured, Pinchas is irrepressible. When I speak to him, I’m caught up in a whirlwind of ideas and topics ranging from the relationship between technology and music to the merits of English orchestras (sense of humour; good manners). But what really gets the juices flowing, is the mention of Mahler. An Israeli by descent, Zukerman particularly identifies with the ‘Jewish’ flavour of Mahler’s music, characterised by frequent snippets of Klezmer. ‘You recognise it immediately,’ says Pinchas, ‘My father was maybe the best Klezmer player I ever heard. So that rhythm, that colour: that’s my DNA.’
Arianna has an analytical approach to the subject: ‘I wonder if all the Klezmer in Mahler’s music had more to do with his Jewish faith or the trends of the time. Because in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century there was a trend towards exoticism. There might be more to the story than saying ‘Mahler’s Jewish. That’s why his music sounded like it did.’ And what are the challenges of performing Mahler? ‘To allow it to speak for itself. Sometimes I think, oh Arianna, just get out of the way!’ she laughs. But then, as she says, ‘simplicity is hard won’.
And one last question: in rehearsals, does Arianna call Pinchas ‘Maestro’ or ‘Dad’? Neither apparently. ‘It’s usually ‘excuse me but could we please….I’m Mr Excuse Me’ says Pinchas. ‘But ‘Daddy’? No, no. It doesn’t work like that.’
Seed bombs and Rocket rockets are used to introduce plants into the city. Come to the workshops to learn how to make your own and bring more greenery into London.
As part of the summer-long Festival of Neighbourhood, Southbank Centre invites you to take part in a gardening workshop this weekend. Come and join us in the roof garden on top of Queen Elizabeth Hall on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 May and get involved in hands-on creative gardening workshops. On Saturday we equip you to become a Guerrilla Gardener by teaching you how to make seed bombs, balls that can be used to sow seeds in hard-to-reach locations, and then find places that need a bit of green to deploy them. On Sunday, learn how to make a Rocket Rocket – a rocket-shaped pot made of recycled materials where you can grow your own rocket leaves.
Both workshops are suitable for all ages, but children must be accompanied by an adult. The workshops are free and all materials are included, just bring your creativity. Places are limited so please email julian.cox@southbankcentre.co.uk with the workshop you’d like to attend and the number of people attending. Reservations close at 4pm on Friday 17 May. In case of wet weather an indoor room will be used.
Meet at the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden
Seed bomb workshop – Saturday 18 May session starts at 2pm (Duration 2 hours)
Rocket Rocket workshop – Sunday 19 May session starts at 2pm (Duration 2 hours)
On Friday 24 May Southbank Centre welcomes Juan Martínto the Purcell Room for a special evening of flamenco guitar music. We caught up with him ahead of the concert. What are you most looking forward to about your forthcoming performance at Southbank Centre?
Well, a London concert, particularly at the Southbank Centre is always an important event. One is challenged, both artistically and technically because so many fine artists have appeared there from the classical, jazz and world music areas of the world. I relish the opportunity to play to a cultivated audience whom I can hopefully touch and give a memorable evening of music to.
Can you tell us anything about the music we can expect to hear being performed?
I will start the programme with some of my own solo guitar compositions which though constructed within traditional flamenco forms such as tarantas, bulerias etc, contain my own music. I will perform some ‘Andalusí’ songs with Abdul Salam Kheir, a singer and oud (middle eastern lute) player from the Lebanon. These songs originated in Southern Spain in cities like Granada, Cordoba and Seville and take one back to a world of poetry, music in the gardens of the Alhambra (the Generalife) such as ‘Lamma Bada Yetethena’ (when she begins to sway) which is one of these. Paul Fawcus will perform on clarinet some Sephardic songs I’ve arranged for guitar and clarinet.
Louai Alhenawi, from Damascus, brings some wonderfully evocative sounds with his new flutes and Chris Karan, of Greek origin, will play percussion on darabuka, tabla, cabasa and shekeré. I have arranged a Rondeña and a Tangos called ‘La pasión del lamento’ which opens the Musica Alhambra cd for the whole group and will also be performing ‘Rumba Nostálgica’ and ‘La Feria’ to build the rhythmic excitement.
What is your musical background, and how to did you find your personal musical style?
My musical background is of course mainly flamenco but I’ve always listened to classical and indeed have performed and recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and collaborated with the Nash Ensemble in concert. I’ve also appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, once on the same bill as Miles Davis and another time with Herbie Hancock. My guitar method ‘El Arte Flamenco de la Guitarra’ is now in its 14th print and I’ve recorded 18 albums and 2 live dvds at the Barbican Centre.
What other talents or skills would you like to possess?
I’d love to be able to sing well but instead I just have to try to make my guitar sing for me. I admire many people in the arts and sport but I’m quite content with my chosen instrument and music and I never tire of the guitar.
Is there a piece of music you would pick out as one of the ‘best’ works ever written?
Beethoven Piano concerto no. 4 and Mozart Concertante 364.
And is there a work that is for you, emotionally, especially important?
The Seguiriyas by Agujetas, ‘No llegaste a quererme’ (Granaina) by Camaron de la Isla and Villancico by my friend Rafael Romero, a gypsy cantaor.
If you could programme your ideal Southbank Centre show, which artists (living or dead) would you bring together?
Beethoven, Carmen Amaya, Camaron de la Isla, Glen Gould, Heifitz, Little Richard, early Elvis, Mozart, Verdi, Miles David, Niño Ricardo, Ramón Montoya, La Paquera de Jerez.
What is the most played piece of music on your mp3 player or in your CD collection?
It varies depending on what I’m currently into, but all of the above.
This week we interviewedLucy Guerin, the mastermind behind the dance performance Untrained, which has been described as ‘A fascinating combination of dance, theatre, improvisation and multimedia, all presented with just the right amount of quirk and irreverence.’-Australian Stage.
Untrainedis a quirky and irreverent theatrical exploration that takes both performers and audience into a whole new undefined experience. Setting two highly skilled dancers against two men with absolutely no movement training at all - the four men are given identical instructions: to execute the same series of movements.
We asked Lucy about this captivating, insightful and sometimes amusing dance performance. This is what she had to say about auditions, improvisations and laughter.
How did Untrained come about? Untrained came about from a one week creative development opportunity that I was given at Arts House in Melbourne. I was interested at that time in making movement by giving instructions to the dancers and having them respond spontaneously, rather than preconceived choreographed movements.
I had been thinking about working with untrained people for many years. I had an idea to work with firemen at one stage. Many experiences fed into this idea. When I lived in New York I used to take ballet classes on a regular basis. There was an older woman in the class who could do all the steps and learn the sequences but she didn’t do them like a trained dancer. She didn’t point her feet or stretch her legs and I loved watching her dancing. She didn’t have the same locked in physical pathways that the other dancers had. I think my interest in this work is not that the men can’t dance, but watching untrained bodies attempt the physical pathways that are so entrenched for skilled dancers. The lack of predictability is really interesting and surprising.
What were your influences and thoughts behind it? As a choreographer, I have always had an interest in ‘original movement’ that is, movement that has not been codified as part of a style or technique. In many dance styles the same movements appear again and again, in different sequences and done with different expressive qualities. Although I also use these movements as part of my dance vocabulary, I also try to find movement pathways and dynamics that are not so familiar and this often involves breaking down the habitual training of myself and the dancers in order to find something that doesn’t stem from our training. The dancers that I work with are highly skilled, not only technically but in their ability to respond to this type of task. But their training also means that they can never move like a non dancer (which of course is a good thing) even when they walk on stage and stand, you can clearly see the difference between a dancer and a non dancer. I began to be interested in the unrefined, unformed movements of ordinary people as they do not have an awareness of their bodies in the same way that dancers do. When you ask them to do a dance movement they don’t know if their leg is bent or straight or where their arm is in relation to their body. This gives the movement an immediacy and unconscious quality which I find fascinating, especially when contrasted with the dancers’ awareness which can never really be dropped. With dancers there is the layer of training always present. With non- dancers their movement training is their daily lives and their inherited physicality. So they are more able in a way, to create movement that is ‘new’ or undefined from a dance perspective and that movement is very difficult to reproduce, even for a dancer, as people will see when they come to the show.
What is your ultimate goal, aim and/or message with Untrained? As is quite common in my works I am posing questions. I am asking the audience ‘what is interesting for you to watch in a performance and why?’ Is it the fact that something has been put on stage and in the context of a performance? Is it the personal charisma of a particular man? Is it the level of skill with which they execute the instructions? Is it the concentration and effort required to do them? I have set out to communicate with the audience, a range of ways to look at moving and performing. And perhaps through that to look at the potential of the wider world and themselves
Is laughter something you always anticipated to be present when performing it? No. Initially Untrained was more like an experiment in how trained and untrained men responded to the same instructions. The structure for the work is very simple and repetitive and I was expecting it to be quite demanding for audiences. I was not at all prepared for the hilarity that erupted on opening night. People were almost hysterical at times. I think part of the laughter comes from their trepidation when they put themselves in the place of the untrained men, performing on stage with no experience or skills.
I was a bit taken aback by this response to Untrained. I suppose there is a slapstick component to Untrained that audiences find very amusing. I find the unconventional moves of the untrained intriguing and fascinating rather than funny. I didn’t respond in the same way that audiences did although I must say we had a lot of fun when creating this work. After many years of working with trained dancers (which of course I love) there was a different potential for choreography with people with no training. But after my initial concern about audiences laughing at the untrained men I realised over a few performances that they were ultimately the stars of the show. Audiences wanted them to succeed and admired their courageous attempts at some of the impossible tasks that were set for them. Audiences imagine themselves in the same position and ask themselves, ‘What would I do?’ So there is a lot of empathy towards the untrained men. But when I take on new untrained for the piece I always explain to them that audiences are sometimes highly amused and that they need to have a sense of humour about what they are doing and understand the premise of the work.
Each time it is performed it has a different cast. How do you select the participants? The first cast of Untrained was my brother-in-law and his friend. I asked them to do a week long workshop to play with a few ideas never dreaming that the work would end up touring internationally. But after performing the work in several seasons they began to lose their untrained edge, the show became very familiar to them and it was clear that the cast needed to change periodically.
I selected the two untrained performers for this cast from an audition that was a great experience in itself. We had 90 applications and we selected 40 to audition. It was so wonderful to have this room full of men who were really challenged by moving their bodies and responding to the instructions we gave them. But they were also really focused and found it a great experience to do something with other men that was not connected with sport, drinking, cars etc. I guess that says something about Australian culture, but attempting something outside of their normal activities was really inspiring to them. The untrained men are paid as professionals for rehearsals and performances.
Anyway, Jake Shakleton and Michael Dunbar were the successful applicants. I chose them because I felt they could show viewers something about themselves without affectation or reserve which is quite rare and one of the qualities I also look for in the dancers I work with. They are both interesting, though not necessarily co-ordinated movers and are thoughtful people. Jake is an environmental engineer and Michael is an interactive designer (I didn’t know what this was, it’s someone who designs apps, games, websites etc) Jake is delightfully chatty and a great socialiser; Michael is very sincere and quite insightful about dance which he has had little experience of.
The two [professional] dancers that I am working with are Alisdair Macindoe and Ross McCormack. They are both outstanding dancers and engaging, unusual people. I have worked with Alisdair for many years but this show is the first time I have worked with Ross.
Watch interviews with some of Lucy’s dancers here:
What is it like working on the same piece with such a variety of dancers? The way a person moves and the attitude they have to their physical body is a large component of their personality. Everything that has happened to you, physically and emotionally, leaves an imprint on your body and how you choose to comport it, consciously and unconsciously. We have done the show with many different types of men: footballers, teachers, visual artists, meat workers, laborers, carpenters, PhD students and of course always with dancers.
The rehearsals begin for me with an initial impression of these people, but as they progress so many complexities emerge. The meat worker had a love of musical theatre, the visual artist loved fly fishing, the teacher had experienced a nervous breakdown. It is amazing how well you get to know people, their lives and their ways of dealing with its challenges, from an exploration of movement. And in only one week which is all the time we take to rehearse the show. I haven’t studied any of this in depth but there is something about moving, particularly dancing that releases these experiences. What the untrained men are asked to do is really difficult and unknown, they bring their whole physical experience to the task and draw on everything they know.
One part of the show that I really love is when they are first asked to improvise. They have no experience to guide them and it is quite confronting for them, but from somewhere, they start to dance, and this dance is always very interesting. And even though they only rehearse together for a week before presenting the show, there is a strong camaraderie that develops between the cast.
If you could sum up Untrained in three words, what would they be? Unpredictable, funny, unusual.
