Moscow will See Stravinsky's Rite of Spring Staged by Regis Obadia

On Monday, the Russian Academic Youth Theatre in Moscow will present the world premiere of a new version of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. The one-act ballet staged by renowned French choreographer Regis Obadia will be performed by Moskva Russian chamber ballet.

The first performance of the Rite of Spring by Sergei Diaghilev's Russian ballet in 1913 staged by Vaclav Nijinsky was a scandal. The music and, what's more, the staging appeared to be too unusual. Since that time many choreographers addressed this work interpreting it in their own way.

In the centre of the ballet's new version is the view of the world of contemporary man. This is a story of a young man "facing the mystery of cognition of woman, cognition of himself," Obadia said during a meeting with journalists in Moscow. In his show, the protagonist exists in a tough urbanised world devoid of human warmth. "But the existential problems, the inward struggle are the same that in the days of the pagan Rus," the choreographer stressed.

The general information sponsor of the premiere is the Russian Information Agency Novosti.