Wednesday 2 October 2013

The Rite of Spring as Reawakening - The Ballet Joffrey Reenact A Powerful 20th Century Pagan Ritual





Dance is perhaps the earliest and most potent form of magical ritual. The body has its own knowing and its own power; the highest spiritual power and wisdom are contained in the darkest and warmest depths of our physical form. In our very genes perhaps, or even deeper in physical forces as yet unknown to science and deriving life from the core of the Earth itself.

The first 3 minutes of the video above are famous introductory music, after which something revolutionary occurs. Do dip in, even if modern classical music or dance are not your 'thing'. It is worth it.

From 1911-1913 three of the world's greatest geniuses united to change culture and as it proved, modern society for ever. They were Russian: Russia has always had more than its fair share of geniuses. Commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, the composer Stravinsky, the choreographer Nijinsky and the artist Roerich collaborated on the ballet The Rite of Spring which caused a riot on its performance in May 1913.

As indicated by the title, this was a balletic presentation of a pagan ritual. There was great interest in ancient Russian paganism at this time - Roerich's paintings and ethnographic investigations had made him an expert in this field and the natural choice for stage and costume designer.

Stravinsky's score changed classical music for ever and indirectly affected all later music. In short, Stravinsky invented modern 'atonal' music; for the first time, music made deliberate, systematic use of discord, harshness and volume. But the real mystery of Stravinsky's score is that it is utterly rhythmic. The whole of Christian classical tradition had been based on harmony and melody, with rhythm taking a subsidiary and essentially 'polite' role. And while rhythm lived on in dance music like the Waltz, or in military bands, Stravinsky - seemingly out of nowhere - rediscovered the raw power of rhythm. His use of percussion and cross-rhythm and irregular metre brought classical music back to contact with the ancient shamanic powers preserved in African music. In fact whether Stravinsky knew this or not, the Russian or Mongolian term 'shaman' was to become a global signifier of the primal magic of the drum. Stravinsky restored the groin and legs to classical music.

So, Stravinsky's score was utterly shocking to the culture of 1913. Yet is was so influential - by far the most innovative piece in the history of classical music - that it merely sounds beautiful and classic 100 years later. Our ears have grown used to the balance of harmony and discord and to the power of cross rhythm. Stravinsky's sensibility was normalised through hundreds of lesser classical composers trying to be 'shocking', through Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, through film soundtracks, and a subtle influence on Jazz and avant-garde Rock.

The great dancer and choreographer Nijinksy did something even more extraordinary. Faced with the challenge of choreographing a pagan ritual, he had to throw away the pretty European ballet of the French schools and reinvent ritualistic dance. In doing this, he returned to primitive Russian forms of folk dance. These will have been just as shocking to audiences as Stravinsky's music. Instead of the fluid but etiolated ballerina, seemingly lifeless below the belly, Nijinsky had his dancers perform jerking violent movements and archaic circle dances emphasising contact with the earth and sky. The finale of the Rite where the maiden dances herself to death as a sacrifice is an extraordinary tour de force unlikely to be equalled.

Yet this vital aspect of the Rite was largely forgotten until 1987 when the Ballet Joffrey, having obtained access to reconstructions of Nijinsky's original choreography, performed the first true recreation of the Rite of Spring since its initial performances. Fortunately, a film of this production is available on YouTube and it is absolutely essential viewing for all musicians and magicians, and doubtless is fascinating if extraordinary for dancers.



The third contributor is probably the most overlooked. Nikolai Roerich is best known in esoteric circles. He toured the world painting a vast number of outstandingly beautiful canvasses, focusing on mountain-scapes and spiritual subjects, particularly of Tibet and India. His love of ancient spirituality and landscape inspired him to a comprehensive detailed stage design encompassing every detail. One of the joys of the Ballet Joffrey's reconstructions is the recreation of Roerich's original costumes - some of which can be seen represented in paintings like that above. Nikolai Roerich and his wife Helena were cocreators of a new form of Yoga - Agni Yoga - which they claimed was received from the Mahatma Morya. And primal spiritual power and beauty course through Roerich's paintings and the communications Helena receive.

Most religion of recent millennia, and most magic, has been overly 'polite'. Music and dance have been exiled to the low arts of the dance hall or the rites of the underprivileged. Yet that is where power and release lie.

Students or followers or pagan religions; those enthusiastic about the ancient mysteries of Atlantis or Lemuria; devotees of Green spirituality. Watch this: for this is where the powers of your movement were unleashed. Everything turns on whether these liberated forces destroy civilisation or, making peace with their younger successors like thought and individuality, join in wholeness and reconciliation.




No comments:

Post a Comment