110 years after its controversial premiere at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, The Rite of Spring is still top of the modern dance pops. Maybe it has been spurred on by the primeval instincts unleashed by the pandemic, but this is the fourth interpretation of this ballet of ritual and sacrifice that has played at Sadler’s Wells in the last nine months (although only three have used Stravinsky’s extraordinary score).
Each choreographer has embossed their own particular take on this ubiquitous tale, from Mats Ek’s sensibilities of the Japanese family to Dada Masilo’s maternal filicide in the African bush. Now, it’s the turn of Seeta Patel to create something different from such familiar material. Actually, in her case it was more a case of “here’s something I made earlier”, since her production of The Rite of Spring was created before the pandemic and first toured in 2018/19.
It's now back with Stravinsky’s music played live by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kirill Karabits: it makes such a difference from a recorded score and kudos to Karabits and his musicians for keeping the tempo aligned to the dancers’ needs. Patel has also provided a first act frontispiece, which gave both contrast and context to the main event.
Her concept for illustrating Stravinsky’s music in dance was based on two overarching tenets: first, to use her principal dance language of Bharatanatyam as the key ingredient of her choreography, mixed with a cocktail of contemporary movement and, secondly, to invert the original (and still typical) ending of the “chosen one” being a sacrificial maiden. In Patel’s vision, it is a man who is chosen, not to be sacrificed, but to be deified. In both cases, these are artistic choices that not only worked well but also brought that elusive attribute of originality.
The South Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam fits the feel of Stravinsky’s music perfectly, notably in the close connection of the torso to the “earth” (enhanced by the ritual blowing of dust from the palms of dancers’ hands), the intricate, rhythmic footwork (adding an emphasis to the music) and the expressive narrative delivery. The link with Bharatanatyam was further enhanced by a brief four-minute interlude with the insertion of South Asian vocals, composed specifically for this performance and sung by Roopa Mahadevan.
In every sense the choreography seemed in lockstep with both the music and its intent. Bharatanatyam is traditionally a dance form practised as a solo and, of necessity, Patel has set her work on twelve dancers (although most of the group work was danced by eleven) with little in the way of partnering or contact. The choreographic patterns that Patel achieved with her group dances, using both harmonised and individual motifs, both randomly and repeated in canon, were always compelling and beautiful. Interpreting Stravinsky’s music through this form of Indian classical dance has proved to be a tremendous success.
Sooraj Subramaniam was an excellent choice for the newly minted “chosen one”. Well-known to UK audiences for his work with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance (there were several other connections to SJD), he had a dominating aura that fitted his deification perfectly: at the close, he is not the sacrifice, but the other dancers all submit themselves to his power by crawling through his legs into some unknown portal. The multi-national cast was excellent and my eye was often taken by the elegance of another former SJD dancer, Kamala Devam. The flowing double-layered tunics and skirts designed by Anshu and Jason (smallshop, Bangalore) emphasised the lack of gender distinction within the ensemble and the lighting by Warren Letton was another exceptional contribution to an excellent experience.
The opening performance of Shree by the choreographer, Seeta Patel, was both a palette-cleanser for the coruscating production to come and, more importantly, a capsule example of the true art of Bharatanatyam, performed with three musicians – Samyukta Ranganathan (vocals), Prathap Ramachandran (percussion) and Vijay Venkat (flute) – each of whom performed a solo introduction to their art before the small music group came together. They each occupied a section of an impressive backdrop comprising set design by Rachana Jadhav and Wayne Sable’s mystical projections.
Patel gave an absorbing and expressive performance of a woman at one with her natural surroundings, suggesting the presence of butterflies and hummingbirds with her hands and fingers. It was an intimate solo performance that could have become lost on the Sadler’s Wells stage, but the combination of performances, projections and design meant that this was never the case.
This was a fascinating double-bill in which Patel gave ample demonstration of her excellence as both the purveyor and interpreter of traditional Bharatanatyam and as a choreographer of substance and innovation, crossing and dismantling the boundaries of dance genres and tackling a dance icon with significant aplomb.
