Abstract
In spite of abundant research on Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), an avant-garde ballet that premiered in Paris in 1913, there is no substantive examination of the ballet’s re-imagining of premodern rituality, aesthetics, and performance. In this brief essay, I interpret Igor Stravinsky’s musical score and Vaslav Nijinsky’s choreography for Le Sacre in an exposition of two specific terms: pathei mathos (knowledge by ordeal) and skandalon (‘stumbling stone,’ a trap, scandal). As I demonstrate with my exegesis of each term, the celebrated radicality of Stravinsky’s composition and the presumed modernism of Nijinsky’s movement are in fact indebted to Greco-Roman antiquity and the Middle Ages. Ultimately, this essay shows how a high modernist ballet is in fact intimately tied to ancient ritual and medieval gesture.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
