Seeta Patel's Reimagining Of THE RITE OF SPRING Comes To The Patrick Studio

Award-winning choreographer and performer Seeta Patel brings her re-imagining of the iconic ballet, The Rite of Spring to Birmingham Hippodrome's Patrick Studio on Tue 14 May.

With a cast of six outstanding performers, the show reinterprets the classic ballet in the powerful classical Indian dance style of Bharatanatyam.

Composer Igor Stravinsky wrote The Rite of Spring, the ballet and orchestral concert - widely considered to be his masterpiece - for the 1913 season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. When it premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the avant-garde nature of the music and choreography caused a sensation and continues to be influential over a century later.

"The Rite of Spring has been choreographed by many different artists and companies over the years", says Seeta Patel. "Diaghilev, Pina Bausch, Maurice Bejart to name a few. But this will be the first time ever it will be done with the Bharatanatyam dance form. I performed at the Patrick Studio in October 2018 with my one woman show Not Today's Yesterday. The venue team are incredible and I'm so happy to be bringing the larger scale work to the venue and to continue building my relationship with Birmingham audiences."

Patel's production is set to be an exciting flirtation between East and West as it looks beyond notions of the exotic and orientalist perceptions of Eastern classical arts. The piece will showcase some of the finest international Indian classical dance talent in an exciting bridge between two technical, powerful and evocative art forms: Western classical music and Indian classical dance. Seeta Patel will bring a transformative re-telling of this tale through intricate rhythmic footwork, expressive prowess, geometric and dynamic movement.

Stravinsky's epic score gains a fresh perspective in Seeta Patel's production through the use of Bharatanatyam, the dancers' knowledge of Indian classical music to interpret the rhythms, and production design referencing the parched earth, the need for spring rain and the birth of new life.

"We've played with lighting design and makeup effects and our two costume designers, who live in Bangalore, have inspired the look of the production with their beautiful textures" says Seeta.

Seeta Patel's The Rite of Spring comes to Birmingham Hippodrome's Patrick Studio on Tue 14 May with tickets priced at £15. To book visit birminghamhippodrome.com or call 0844 338 5000 (4.5p per minute plus your phone company's access charge).