«The soul of the nature expressed by the motion»: “The Rite of Spring” by Vaclav Nižinskij

Abstract

Elena Randi examines the première of The Rite of Spring by Stravinskij- Roerich-Nižinskij (1913), especially as regards its choreographic features. Nižinskij believes that the harmony between man and nature that perfectly and wisely characterized the origins of humankind has been broken in modern times. The Russian dancer, as well as many artists and philosophers of the time, begins to consider such fracture as a worrying issue, entailing terrible consequences. Nižinskij’s idea would be that a new pagan perspective might perhaps save us.