Igor Stravinsky’s Ballet “Rite of Spring” Caused a Riot
Fans of classic music will be familiar with the works of Igor Stravinsky. But when he first premiered his ballet called “Rite of Spring” in May of 1913, the Parisian audience was shocked by the music. The ballet was performed by a Russian dance company called Ballets Russes, who were known for choreography that was out of the box. They were often called “primitive and untamed.” When the performance began, people found the music to be too jarring. And the dancing was so odd, it didn’t seem like ballet at all. The audience began to boo, hiss, and shout for someone to call a doctor. If you’re curious to know what kind of dancing could have possibly enraged French audiences so much, there was a 100-year anniversary performance of Ballets Russes reenacting the Rite of Spring in 2013, and the video is available on YouTube.