THE HANGOVER REPORT – A distinctly African take on Pina Bausch’s THE RITE OF SPRING finds newfound urgency and force in the modern classic

The company of Pina Bausch’s “The Rite of Spring” at the Park Avenue Armory (photo by Stephanie Berger).

Last night at the Park Avenue Armory, I caught up with a striking double bill — a collaboration between the Pina Bausch Foundation, Sadler’s Wells, and École des Sables — comprised of Pina Bausch’s devastating version of The Rite of Spring, which was preceded by Common Ground[s], a gentle duet danced by Germaine Acogny (a Senegalese dancer who is known as the mother of contemporary dance in Africa) and Malou Airaudo (a longtime dancer with Bausch).

The evening began with Common Ground[s]. Even though the armory’s massive drill hall is arguably too large of a space for the intimate and sparely designed piece, somehow it didn’t matter a bit. In the seemingly unassuming dance, Acogny and Airaudo — two majestic women in their 70s with quite a bit of dance history between them — touchingly explore their common histories both as women and elders of contemporary dance, commanding the expanse with their serene luminescence. It was a fitting prelude to the program — a calm before the storm about to be unleashed.

After an extended intermission came a distinctly African take on Bausch’s The Rite of Spring, the evening’s main course. Ferociously and vividly danced by a company of young dancers culled from all over Africa (14 countries are represented!), the performance filled the drill hall, finding newfound urgency and force in the modern classic. Although I missed hearing Stravinsky’s game-changing score played live, there were enough visceral thrills to be had in Bausch’s earthy and savage choreographic depiction — in my mind an ideal blend of gorgeous pure dance and harrowing human drama — of a traumatized community and the ritualistic sacfrifice its members enact.

By looking both to the past and the future, the bill is the perfect way to conclude the Van Cleef & Arpels-sponsored Dance Reflections, an expansive two-month festival that has captured the imagination of many a New York dance fan this fall.

RECOMMENDED

THE RITE OF SPRING / COMMON GROUND[S]
Dance
Park Avenue Armory
1 hour, 35 minutes (with one intermission)
Through December 14

Categories: Dance

Leave a Reply