In 1913, composer Igor Stravinsky and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky electrified the ballet world with The Rite of Spring, a brash, iconoclastic piece that broke all the prevailing rules, scandalized Parisian ears and set the rest of the 20th century in motion. In honor of the work’s hundredth anniversary, Shen Wei Dance Arts has revived its 2003 reimagining of the original, which The New York Times called a “painterly, mathematical and idiosyncratic [vision in which] movement becomes pure.”
Chinese-born choreographer Shen Wei works in a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary mode, incorporating multimedia elements in his syncretic dance-theater pieces. This weekend’s program at Mass MOCA, presented in partnership with Jacob’s Pillow, also includes the company’s newest work, Collective Measures, an “exploration of isolation amidst physical proximity.” The program contains partial nudity.
October 26-27, Hunter Center, Mass MOCA, North Adams, (413) 662-2111, massmoca.org.
