The bold collaboration behind The Rite Of Spring Revisited

Saturday 2 March 2013

A century after the debut production sent shockwaves through the arts world, The Rite Of Spring is being revived by some of Scotland's boldest creative minds.

Back row, from left: Vanessa Hindshaw, Jamie Haughton, Izzi Rainey, Christine Humbuck, Rebecca Dodge. Front row: Georgia F Moffat, Ailis Dewar, Abigail Wood, Francesca Stride, Olivia Cemah, Francesca Cozzari, Catherine MacGruer. Photograph: Kirsty Anderson

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Kathleen Morgan

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Here we tell the story of an exciting tie-up between Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. You can watch the behind-the-scenes video by clicking on the icon above.

The clatter of knitting machines, the buzz of industry and the odd burst of giggles drift across the workroom. Young designers are stooped over their work, putting the finishing touches to costumes draped over mannequins and desks. Embroiderers, printers, knitters and weavers work frantically. Deadline day is approaching and there is still row upon row to be knitted, pom-poms to be attached and acetate fringes to be cut.

The designers are third-year fashion and textile design students from Glasgow School of Art (GSA). Their mission is to create the costumes for a new version of the famous ballet The Rite Of Spring, a century after the explosive collaboration by the composer Igor Stravinsky and choreographer Vaslav Nijinski was first performed. This version, The Rite Of Spring Revisited: MONAD, involves collaboration between the fashion and textile design students, dancers and musicians from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Some of the designs will be selected for the production at Tramway, Glasgow, in May, and they will all be shown at the annual GSA fashion show in The Arches next month. When The Rite Of Spring premiered in Paris on May 29, 1913, an incensed audience hissed and hurled insults at dancers from the Ballets Russes. Whether there was a riot that night, as is often claimed, shockwaves were sent through the arts world. While the audience were shocked by everything from the score to the story of a girl dancing herself to death, it was as much Nijinski's choreography that revolted them. Stravinsky later told his biographer, " - when the curtain opened on the group of knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas jumping up and down, the storm broke." Christopher Hampson, the artistic director of Scottish Ballet, says: "I don't think there has been a score written since that hasn't been referenced or inspired by Stravinsky's score. It changed the way dance moved forward as well. "There had been avant-garde scores around before The Rite Of Spring, however Stravinsky's was an assault on the senses and then to have the original Nijinski choreography, which had everyone's feet turned in, their toes facing inwards - Most dancers stand with their toes facing outwards. If you've ever walked behind a ballet dancer you'll know that – they tend to walk like penguins. From the ground up, the original choreography inverted all of those traditions of ballet, so that was probably the shock value." He remembers seeing it for the first time as an adolescent. "I heard it before I saw it, so I knew the score very well," says Hampson, 39, who took over the helm of Scottish Ballet from Ashley Page last August. "The first production I saw was by Kenneth MacMillan, the late choreographer from the Royal Ballet. His production had a good 40 or 50 people in it, so it was a very large-scale work." As part of the centenary celebrations, Hampson is choreographing his own interpretation. The production, to be performed by Scottish Ballet in September, will feature just three dancers. "I had listened to the score for many years hoping I would eventually do my own version," explains Hampson. "I was trying to think of how big I would do it. Then I decided to turn it on its head. I thought, 'How small could I do it?' so my version is for just two men and one woman." Meantime, he is looking forward to the GSA and RCS collaboration, choreographed by Hubert Essakow, a former member of Scottish Ballet. Hampson says: "It's a wonderful collaboration, very much in the spirit of the original, putting together design and dance on equal footing, and promoting the work of new choreographers and designers." It is weeks since the Johannesburg-born choreographer first met the textile design students at GSA and gave them a list of themes – including death, regeneration, plants and organisms – to inspire their costumes. For now, the clock is ticking, knitting machines are clacking - and The Rite Of Spring is coming to life again. The GSA fashion show is at The Arches, Glasgow, at 7pm and 9pm on March 5 and 6. For tickets, priced £7/£5 call 0141 353 4526. The Rite Of Spring Revisited: MONAD is at Tramway, Glasgow on March 18. Visit boxoffice.rcs.ac.uk. The Rite Of Spring, choreographed by Christopher Hampson and performed by Scottish Ballet, is at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, September 26-28.

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The bold collaboration behind The Rite Of Spring Revisited

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