BALLET
Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird & The Rite of Spring
(85 min; 2008; dvd)
From the Mariinsky Theatre

The Firebird with Ekatarina Kondaurova (The Firebird); Ilya Kuznetsov (Ivan Tsarevich); Marianna Pavlova (The Princess); Vladimir Ponomarev (Kashchei)

The Rite of Spring with Alexandra Iosifidi (The Chosen One); Elena Bazhenova (300-Year-Old Woman); Vladimir Ponomarev (The Wise Elder)

Mariinsky Orchestra and Ballet
Conductor: Valery Gergiev

The Firebird (1910), Stravinsky’s breakthrough masterpiece, was inspired by a Russian legend telling of the capture by Prince Ivan Tsarevich of a marvellous bird from a tree of golden apples in the enchanted garden of the evil and immortal Kashchei. The Firebird, in exchange for its freedom, gives Ivan one of its flaming feathers, telling him that one day it would be useful..

The Rite of Spring (1913) completed the break with the old style of music and choreography and caused a scandal at its premiere. It tells of a great pagan ritual in which wise elders are seated in a circle and are observing the dance before death of the girl whom they are offering as a sacrifice to the god of Spring.

The design and choreography of both ballets are rare re-constructions of the original productions by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes

Curated by Samaresh Chatterji. Introduced by Sunit Tandon