An ensemble comes together for The Rite of Spring

For an international transmission, dancers from 14 African countries dance Pina Bausch's famous choreography to Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps.

The transmission of The Rite of Spring is accompanied by rehearsal leaders. They are current and former dancers of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. The rehersal leaders have danced The Rite of Spring themselves, so they know the choreography well. They work together with the selected dancers during the rehearsals.

The project partners and rehearsal directors were looking for dancers, who would like to learn and perform the choreography of The Rite of Spring. For this purpose, they organized auditions at three locations in West Africa. Dancers presented themselves and their skills during the auditions.

In December 2019, auditions were held in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Senegal. A total of 135 dancers participated. A final workshop was held at the École des Sables in Senegal. There, the rehearsal leaders danced together with 67 dancers. This allowed the rehearsal leaders to learn more about the dancers and their skills.

Afterwards, the rehearsal leaders selected 38 dancers from 14 African countries for the transmission.