Le sacre du printemps

Among the choreographers who staged “Le sacre du printemps” were Leonid Myasin, Mary Wigman, John Neumeier, Glen Tetley, Kenneth MacMillan, Hans van Manen, Angelin Preljocaj. In 1957, the author’s version of “Le sacre du printemps” was presented by Mary Wigman, one of the pioneers of German expressive dance.

Wigman’s creation set two vectors for further transformation of the art of choreography. The first – in the direction of disclosure in the movement of personal experiences, the second – towards the development of purely technological and spatial components of dance, free from emotional, substantive, rhythmic and musical subtexts.

The premiere of “Le sacre du printemps” Wigman took place in 1957 as part of the Berlin Festival. The reason for the reconstruction of this version in 2013 was the 100th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet and the 40th anniversary of the death of the dancer and choreographer. 

Mary Wigman’s ‘Sacre’ had its premiere at the Städtische Oper Berlin when it was danced by the theatre’s ballet company in 1957. Unfortunately, all that remains of Wigman’s choreography are sketches, photos, notes and the memories of dancers who were involved in the work. This material formed the foundation for the reconstruction by Henrietta Horn, Susan Barnett and Katharine Sehnert, supported by the former Wigman students and dancers Emma Lew Thomas and Brigitta Herrmann from the USA. The dance ensembles from the publicly funded theatres in Osnabrück and Bielefeld brought the reconstruction of this work to the stage in November 2013 in a large-scale co-operation involving ten dancers from each company, five guest dancers, and music played by the Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra and Bielefeld Philharmonic. The Bavarian State Opera Munich, a project partner, used the Osnabrück/Bielefeld reconstruction of Wigman’s Sacre in a performance of the choreography – as originally envisaged by Mary Wigman – in the Reithalle, Munich, in June 2014.

A Tanzfonds Erbe Project 

A coproduction of the Dance Company Theater Osnabrück and the Tanztheater Bielefeld

Tchaikovsky Overtures by Bayerisches Staatsballett Russell Maliphant by Bayerisches Staatsballett Portrait by Bayerisches Staatsballett Paradigma by Bayerisches Staatsballett