Sacré Sacre du Printemps

One hundred years since the world premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s epoch-making Le Sacre du Printemps, the choreographer and director Laurent Chétouane produced a new adaptation of the piece. The focus of the production was on how we deal with foreignness in our times and in Western society. Starting with the assumption that foreignness is only tolerated if it is assimilated and becomes part of shared identity, Chétouane offered a new version of the relationship between likeness and foreignness through music and dance. In his interpretation, foreignness was preserved and confirmed shared identity. In place of integration, he offered a new concept of coexistence.
The choreography was developed in collaboration with well-known international dancers. The musical score was composed by the musician Leo Schmidthals, who converted Stravinsky’s original into a new form through fragmentation, prolongation and acceleration. The project was accompanied by a symposium directed by the theatre studies scholar Nikolaus Müller-Schöll and a publication which examines the significance of aesthetic understanding for addressing the existential matters of our time.

Director/choreographer: Laurent Chétouane (FR); Set design: Patrick Koch; Costume design: Sophie Reble (CH); Composer: Leo Schmidthals; Video: Tomek Jeziorski (PL); Lighting: Stefan Riccius; Dancers: Joséphine Evrard (FR) , Kathryn Enrigth (US) , An Kaler (AT), Senem Gökce Ogultekin (TR) , Matthieu Burner (FR), Joris Camelin (FR), Charlie Fouchier (FR)

World premiere: Essen, PACT Zollverein (featured event of Ruhr Triennial), 27. September 2012; additional performances in Paris, Marseille, Vienna, Brussels, Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg