This video illustrates the topic of the readings 2-4 in the “1913 Readings” packet. What aspects of the choreograph and costumes offered a new view of aesthetics in ballet? What was innovative about the music? What was occurring in 1913 that might influence Stravinsky, Diaghilev, and Nijinsky to produce such an “oppositional” piece of art? Why did Paris audiences riot against it? What emotions does the dance. the music, and the costuming evoke?
Source: Rite of Spring, Joffrey Ballet 1987, YouTube
A sample of a more traditional ballet from Igor Stravinsky just prior to Rite of Spring.
Write a page about World War I Era and its new modern aesthetics. Please refer to 1913 Readings, the ballet Rite of Spring, and the 1913 Armory Show.
1. What is your own reaction to the new modernist art of 1913?
2. How did people in 191 react to these new modernist expressions? Can you understand their reactions? In other words, put yourself into the viewpoint of people 100 years ago looking at these new dances, costumes, music, and art.
