What is The Rite of Spring?
{{italictitle}} [[File:Costume pour le Sacre du printemps (Les Ballet russes, Opéra).jpg|thumb|right|Costume used in the 1991 production of the ballet in Paris, based on Nicolas Roerich's design.]] '''''The Rite of Spring''''' (''Le Sacre du Printemps'') is a [[ballet]] in two parts. It was written for the 1913 [[Paris]] season of [[Sergei Diaghilev]]'s [[Ballets Russes]] company. The music was written by [[Igor Stravinsky]]. The dances, which Stravinsky hated, were choreographed by [[Vaslav Nijinsky]]. The style of the dance was not in traditional ballet form, but as what Nijinsky imagined to be a primitive ritual.<ref>Hodson, Millicent 1996. ''Nijinsky's crime against grace: reconstruction of the original choreography for Le Sacre du printemps''. Pendragon Press.</ref> Stravinsky complained that Nijinsky had no understanding of the rudiments of music.<ref>Stravinsky, Igor 1962. ''An Autobiography''. New York: W.W. Norton. OCLC 2872436.</ref><ref>Taruskin, Richard 1996. ''Stravinsky and the Russian tradition'' (vol. 1). Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07099-8</ref> The set and costumes were designed by Nicholas Roerich. The ballet was first performed by [[Diaghilev]]'s [[Ballets Russes]] at the Theatre du Champs-Élysées in Paris on 29 May 1913. The dress rehearsal met with approval from critics and invited guests, but the premiere was greeted with tumult and riot, only stilled by the performance of Marie Piltz as the sacrificial maiden. Subsequent performances were received with growing appreciation, but the ballet's great difficulties forced it to be presented only six times.<ref>Taruskin, Richard 2013. Resisting The Rite. In Neff, Severine; Carr, Maureen; Horlacher, Gretchen; Reef, John (eds) ''The Rite of Spring at 100''. Indiana University Press. pp. 417–446. doi:10.2307/j.ctt2005z70. ISBN 978-0-253-02735-1.</ref> The ballet was revived in 1920 by the Ballets Russes, but the music had been performed in its entirety in concert before the revival. Nijinsky's danc