Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre Perform New Rite Of Spring At ENO

Director and choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan debuts a new production of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at the London Coliseum on 6 November as part of an ENO double bill with Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. It is Keegan-Dolan’s first collaboration for the company.

Vaslav Nijinsky choreographed the original Rite in 1913, since when it has been re-choreographed numerous times, most successfully by Kenneth MacMillan for The Royal Ballet (1962) and Pina Bausch for her own troupe (1975).

The original Rite used a radical movement style to depict the ritual sacrifice of a young maiden to assuage the Gods and safeguard the future of a primitive community. The idea of society versus the individual, and coercion versus free will, have characterised more recent productions.

Michael Keegan-Dolan has won considerable acclaim for his dance-theatre productions, most of which have been performed in London at the Barbican Theatre. His recent creations include re-imagined versions of Giselle and Romeo and Juliet. His The Rite of Spring is designed by Rae Smith and lit by Adam Silverman.