The dance performance I saw on Wednesday was like no dance performance I have ever seen before in that it was uniquely creative and incorporated a great deal of hidden meanings within the dance. The dance certainly did not follow the typical norms for dance performances, or at least that was my opinion while watching it. I found a short article discussing the dance, and it brings up many different aspects of the dance that had been previously unknown to me. Apparently, when “The Rite of Spring” debuted in 1913 it nearly caused a riot in Paris due to the sexual nature of the performance. This does not really shock me, since the play does incorporate sexuality quite blatantly as a major theme. I wonder if the play has been altered since then to tone down its sexual nature, or copyright laws have prevented this from happening and society has simply become more open?
Who knows how many times the play has been altered. I remember learning about subtext in my intro to theater class and its interesting how subtext can show up through physical motions and not simply vocal lines.