Passages of Rite

Dance critic

Tuesday 9 October 2012

For composers and choreographers alike, the hope is always that a new work will make a lasting impression.

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Mary Brennan on an innovative RCS plan to mark the centenary of a masterwork

Next May, a new incarnation of the Rite of Spring will be premiered at Glasgow's Tramway and those involved are hoping that history won't repeat itself on the night.

On May 29,1913, at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, the first performance of The Rite of Spring – music by Stravinsky, choreography by Nijinsky – unleashed uproar and ructions in the audience, with most of the critics adding fuel to the flaming outbursts of derision the next day. Time has, of course, taken the edge off that initial antagonism: Stravinsky's score is now played worldwide, loved and admired by its listeners and even if Nijinsky's choreography – or what exists of it – is rarely re-created, some 200 versions of The Rite of Spring have been made across the subsequent century.

Next May, however, the centenary of the original Rite will be marked by an entirely new, and ambitiously collaborative venture. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) and the BBC SSO are pooling resources, personnel and – most important of all – fresh ideas, to create a 21st century Rite from scratch. The project was launched at the end of last week, with a hugely enjoyable illustrated lecture by Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, which houses the most extensive collection of material on the 1913 Rite anywhere in the world. Photographs, drawings, scribbled notes, press cuttings and even costumes are in its archives. Pritchard had, in fact, brought one of the original belts, with its little metal decoration still attached, to show the GSA students crammed into Cinema 1 at the GFT. She vividly sketched in the context that culminated in what reports of the time suggested was a full-on riot, with objectors leaping from the theatre's boxes to join in the abuse being hurled (with various missiles) at the stage. What she conjured up was, essentially, the "shock of the new" and the impact of radical departures – in musical composition, in movement vocabulary, in design and in subject matter – from the familiar and conventional. Welcomed by some in 1913, primarily the Bohemian community of artists and intellectuals, Rite was attacked and reviled by the majority of the wealthy, fashionable first night audience who expected pretty frocks, lovely melodies and classical techniques. This work, Pritchard said, had been badged as "the apotheosis of ugliness". A century on, and the shock-waves have subsided. Time, perhaps, to stir up those challenging energies again?Afterwards, Mairi Mackenzie, a lecturer in work-related learning at GSA, admitted she'd been surprised, but delighted, by the number of students who had already declared an interest in the project. "We're responsible for designing the set and the costumes," she explained. "But Rite is stretching into other areas of Art School activity. As well as textiles, and the whole colour palette and look of the piece, we're exploring the visual identity of the whole production. How is it perceived by the public? How do we give it that public 'presence'? We're also initiating a satellite event, that we want the students to curate and we're asking them to make the choices and decisions on this. Today was really exciting, because so many of them are already thinking about it. Which is great, because, as Jane said, the original Rite came together over two years. We've got four or five months."In that time, new music will also be written and new choreography made, rehearsed and then performed at Tramway on May 18. This is where the RCS and BBC SSO are already in cahoots. Earlier this year BBC SSO producer Douglas Templeton approached the RCS with the germ of an idea. Centenary celebrations of the Rite would find orchestras everywhere performing the Stravinsky – how could they not? But what if that celebration embraced and encouraged new music? Which is how Hugh Horton, a 3rd year undergraduate in composition, and Jay Capperauld, a Masters student, found themselves tasked with creating a 10-minute section apiece for an orchestral group that will combine SSO players with students from RCS's music courses. Not a note has been set on stave as yet, but neither seems daunted by the stringent time-line. That time-line shrinks when it comes to making steps. Choreographer Hubert Essakow, whose previous career as a dancer bridged both the classical (with the Royal Ballet) and contemporary (with Rambert Dance) is already spending time with the Conservatoire's BA Modern Ballet students. Will it be on pointe? Given that there are only eight male students across the three-year groups, will there perhaps be a Chosen Lad and not, as in the original, a Chosen Maiden? Essakow laughs – this is one of the unknowns that is adding a frisson of excitement and pressure to proceedings."But this is what makes it all so thrilling, for us as well as for the students," says Paul Tyers, director of the RSC's ballet faculty and deputy artistic director at Scottish Ballet. "There are bound to be problems. Problems we don't even know exist. But as a learning curve, it really couldn't be better. It's not just the ballet and music students who are involved. Lighting and stage management is being done by Conservatoire students. So is the archiving and filming of the project and Jane (Pritchard) will be able to add that to her collection." It's not theoretical – it's all coming together in a live performance. Funding is all covered by core finance here and at GSA because everything we're doing is tied into the kind of course work that's already on the curriculum. What's new – and is actually a first – is how we're collaborating with each other and with the BBC SSO. It is shocking that we haven't got round to it before, but a new Rite of Spring seems like the right place to begin something risky, but full of potential for the future."

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