La Scala stages Pina Bausch's 'The Rite of Spring' for the first time.

From November 7th to 21st, Milan's Teatro alla Scala presents a unique event in the world dance scene: for the first time on its stage, "The Rite of Spring" will be performed in the celebrated and powerful version choreographed by Pina Bausch in 1975. The production, a new staging created in collaboration with the Pina Bausch Foundation, promises to overwhelm the audience with its seismic force and emotional rawness.

The evening opens with another masterpiece linked to composer Igor Stravinsky: George Balanchine's "Apollo," the ballet that established the choreographer's international reputation in 1928. In this role, for some of the scheduled performances, étoile Roberto Bolle will be the lead. The pairing of two great 20th-century dance masters, Balanchine and Bausch, united by Stravinsky's music, marks a high-caliber artistic event for the La Scala season.

The story of this evening at La Scala has its roots in two choreographic revolutions of the 20th century. The first is "Apollo," created in 1928 by a very young George Balanchine for the Ballets Russes. This work, known as a "white ballet" for its costumes, marked the beginning of the long and fruitful collaboration between Balanchine and composer Igor Stravinsky and became a pillar of modern academic ballet, characterized by a stylistic brilliance that influenced generations of dancers.

The second revolution is Pina Bausch's "The Rite of Spring," first presented in 1975 with her company, the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Bausch radically reinterpreted Stravinsky's score, already famous for the scandal of its 1913 premiere, transforming it into a primitive and visceral ritual. Her choreography, of rare expressionist power, is considered a cornerstone of contemporary dance-theater. The fact that La Scala, a temple of lyric and choreographic tradition, has now decided to stage this cult work by Bausch for the first time marks an important recognition of its value and a dialogue between different eras and languages of dance.