THE JOFFREY BALLET: RITE OF SPRING at Bass Concert Hall

Made possible by a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the Dean of the College of Fine Arts and the Executive Vice President and Provost of The University of Texas at Austin

Presented in partnership with the Butler School of Music and the Department of Theatre and Dance

The University of Texas Symphony Orchestra joins the world famous Joffrey Ballet for a spectacular evening of classical dance and music, highlighted by a performance of Le Sacre du Printemps ( The Rite of Spring ), celebrating the centennial of the work’s world premiere in Paris in 1913. The Joffrey Ballet’s Rite of Spring explores Stravinsky’s revolutionary score and Nijinsky’s radical choreography with a remarkable reconstruction of the 1913 production with original costumes, choreography, and design.

The Joffrey Ballet, now with a permanent residence in Chicago, has been hailed as “America’s Company of Firsts.” The namesake of the late Robert Joffrey, The Joffrey Ballet has a long list of “firsts” including the first dance company to perform at the White House at Jacqueline Kennedy’s invitation, the first to appear on television, the first American company to visit Russia, the first classical dance company to go multi-media, the first to commission a rock ‘n’ roll ballet, the first and only dance company to appear on the cover of Time magazine, and the first company to be the subject of a major motion picture, Robert Altman’s The Company.

Don’t miss this opportunity to see, first hand, why this 100 year-old masterpiece continues to have such a radiating influence on contemporary art, culture, and aesthetics.

“One had to applaud the impeccable continuity and dynamic logic of Nijinsky’s choreography. One had to be grateful to Joffrey for taking us on this fascinating trip through a dark time tunnel.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES