From the Archives: The Ballet that Caused a Riot

This weekend I walked away from desk–deadline or no deadline–to go the ballet. The Joffrey Ballet performed The Little Mermaid–a version that had nothing to do with Disney and everything to do with Hans Christian Anderson.  The performance was dark, brilliant, and demanding.  We came away exhausted.  Now I’m back at work at The Book,…

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The Ballet That Caused a Riot

On May 29, 1913, an excited audience, fashionably dressed according to poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau* in “tails and tulle, diamonds and ospreys,”** waited for the curtain to rise at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées. Serge Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe was premiering a new ballet with choreography by Nijinsky and music by Igor Stravinsky– The Rite of…

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