Excerpt
The following is from the September 2013 edition of The Dallas Observer. Students in the Dance Division of SMU's Meadows School of the Arts performed Rite of Spring at the Spring Dance Concert, April 12-14, 2013.
October 2, 2013
When SMU contracted Dutch artist Joost Vrouenraets to choreograph a new version of
Rite of Spring for the piece's centennial celebration, we thought, "Huh, that's ballsy for a private Methodist university." When we went to dress rehearsals and saw that the dancer was using the piece's anarchic legacy to push through subversive theories about social media's influence on a new generation, with the aid of schoolgirl uniforms and a sexually aggressive marionette, well, that's when we realized something much bigger was brewing. The end result had potential to start its own spectacular riot, as young writhing dancers clutched themselves and each other, trapping their frustrations inside custom-built rolling greenhouses. It ran both at SMU and as the showcase closer for the Meadows' annual fund-raising performance at the Winspear, and while we're still unclear how the powers that be let it get that big, we're thankful that it did.
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