The Rite of Spring is a totemic work in the world of dance, frequently remade, often on an epic scale. So it’s a bold move for choreographer Seeta Patel to create her own version as a chamber piece with just six dancers, using the classical Indian dance form bharatanatyam.
It’s difficult not to compare Patel’s version with other Rites. This one does not seize on the raw energy and punishing rhythms usually found in response to Stravinsky’s famously foreboding score. Perhaps knowing she can’t compete with large-scale spectacle, Patel chooses a different mood and pace, and in so doing brings out the more lyrical, Romantic elements of Stravinsky’s score – although the recorded music loses its clarity being cranked up for impact.
Instead of a lowly community depicted taking part in this pagan ritual, these protagonists are more like deities, with their pale satin tunics and intricately braided hair. Instead of a Chosen One violently sacrificed, he is elevated to the divine. Instead of an earthy, ominous Rite, through Patel’s eyes the scene is dreamy, the stage glowing (there is lovely lighting from Warren Letton). Hand gestures look like plants growing, nature abundant in a place of warmth and wonder.
Yet even with these conscious choices, even without velocity and an ambush of steps, you still hope for a sense of urgency and necessity, and that is lacking here. There are nice moments where the dancers echo details in the music – like a splayed hand quivering in concord with a woodwind trill – but not quite the mastery to make it more than the sum of its parts. Patel’s take is an interesting one, but it isn’t an equal to Stravinsky’s mighty score.
