The Rite of Spring

I have been struck by the beauty and force of the reinterpretation by Pina bausch of "Le sacre du printemps" (The Rite of Spring) from the work of the russian composer Igor Stravinsky. The ballet in its contemporary form has been rendered to a simple dirt covered stage with two often rival groups; men and women.
These two groups will clash and bond throughtout the piece, celebrating the return of spring until the choosing of a young woman to sacriface herself by dancing to her death in a pagan ritual.

^{Jeu du Rapt (Ritual of Abduction)
Young girls arrive from the river, in single file. They begin the "Dance of the Abduction".}

This series of prints, through different scenes, is my attempt at depicting the emotions and relationship between humans, gender and the violence that we inflict to one another and our inability to weigh in and prevent the eventual sacrifice that has been implicitly accepted by the group.

Past the obvious black and white aspect of german expressionism, the physical distortion of the dancers with each knife strokes on the linoleum and the inner conflict that the participant of this morbid rital goes through instantly made sense to me that it had to be represented via linocut.

^{Rondes printanières (Spring Rounds)
The young girls dance the Khorovod, the "Spring Rounds".}