Le Sacre Du Printemps

Idea and Choreography: Ismael Ivo

Music: Igor Stravinsky “The Rite of Spring”, Andreas Bick “Honey Scene” and "Insect Invasion"

Produced by Paestum Festivals

Premiere: 16 July 2010

In 2010 Ismal Ivo was commissioned by Paestum Festival of Naples in Italy with the foundation of a modern dance company under the name "Les Danseurs Napolitains". During a longer workshop in March, 14 dancers were chosen from about 30 candidates coming from Naples or the surrounding region (a video in Italien about the audition can be seen here). In the middle of June rehearsals for the choreography "Le Sacre du Printemps" started until the premiere on 16 July in front of the world famous temples of Paestum. 3 more shows were given, among others one in Pompeii's Teatro Grande. For the choreography I was asked to write an introduction for Stravinsyi's music which is only about 30 min. long. The first scene - we called it the "honey scene" - demanded a magical music which should refer to a text of Vergil's "Georgics" where he already mentioned Paestum about 2000 years ago and where he described the life of bees as a role model for human community. I turned a passage of this text into a canon for female choir and counter tenor of which an excerpt can be heard above. The voice of the counter tenor belongs to Martin Wölfel, the female choir was sung by Almut Kühne. The second piece of music, "insect invasion", consists of various insect calls and noises from crickets, cicadas, bees and others, they are accompanied by percussion instruments as well as cello and violin. With the beginning of Stravinsky's "Sacre" rose petals rain on the stage, the impressive scenography and the majestic background of the Ceres temple can also been viewed in this photostream.