The Rite of Spring

30 minute interactive performance of "The Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky, choreographed live by you. Four dancers take to the stage to begin the ritual and welcome the Sun King. Scan the QR code to send them secret messages that they must perform. As the audience surreptitiously guide the performance, will they find elegant cohesion or revel in beautiful chaos? Will you take to the stage and join them?

At the beginning of the performance the audience guides four dancers by sending secret messages from their phones that only the performers can hear. As they discover how to play with the dancers, the audience are progressively invited to take the dancers' headphones and become the dancers themselves. See this video for a prototype version of the performance in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgTZwIaJblc The performance begins with four dancers (who could be professionals or could be volunteers from the venue) on-stage with headphones on. Only the person who typed the message knows which dancer received it. Even the dancers don't know what the other dancers have been asked to do. Inspired by the uncomfortable rhythms and discordant tones of Stravinsky's seminal work - which forms the soundtrack of the dance piece - the audience and dancers begin in a space of discord. However, as the piece goes on they discover how to play with the work, and invent ways to collaborate together to create beauty out with what's on stage. Behind the scenes, the algorithm is subtly exposing opportunities for collaboration, to help the audience find co-creation. The piece is facilitated by algorithms, but it's the audience's playful creativity that makes it magical.