MAHAWAY: SPRING ETERNAL (2013)

Choreography: Alison Cook-Beatty
Music: Composed by Dorian Wallace
Costume Design: Zoe Alexandra (Costumes sponsored by Sansha)
Lighting Design: Cassandra Powell
Performance Info: Two-act ballet; 25 dancers; 45 minutes
Premiered at The Schermerhorn Theater in Brooklyn, NY

MAHAWAY: SPRING ETERNAL is a commemorative dance & musical celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Paris premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s and Vaslav Nijinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”.

About a century ago, on Thursday, May 29, 1913, violence broke out in the audience as “The Rite of Spring” premiered. The theme of the ballet centered on a young maiden who was sacrificing herself by dancing until she died. The theme, the difficult music of Stravinsky, and the heavy pedestrian movement of Nijinsky’s radical and futuristic choreography led to a violent uproar.

As a tribute to this landmark moment in the history of both music and dance, Alison collaborated with Tenth Intervention, a NYC-based troupe of musicians dedicated to presenting established repertoire alongside new compositions, to create MAHAWAY: SPRING ETERNAL. In this unique collaboration, Dorian Wallace, the co-artistic director of Tenth Intervention, composed the music, while Alison completed the choreography of this impressive two-act ballet.

MAHAWAY: SPRING ETERNAL is a two-act ballet which tells the story of a Mother Skunk named Akhushtal, her baby girl Mahaway, and a protective jaguar named Ix Chel. It is the largest scale piece that Alison Cook Beatty Dance has ever undertaken, and its premiere in May 2013 involved eight company dancers as well as 17 additional dancers. During this premiere, Dorian Wallace’s music was also played live, by six musicians from Tenth Intervention.