The Rite of Spring / common ground[s]

The idea of ‘exchange’ is central in this two-part programme which marks the first collaboration between the Pina Bausch Foundation (Germany), École des Sables (Senegal) and Sadler’s Wells (UK).

Bausch’s (1975) The Rite of Spring, danced by a specially assembled company of dancers from African countries with music by Stravinsky, a ‘chosen one’ is sacrificed changing the season from winter to spring.

common ground[s] is a work created, performed and inspired by the lives of two remarkable women: Germaine Acogny, “the mother of contemporary African dance” and founder of École des Sables, and Malou Airaudo, who joined Bausch in the early days of Tanztheater Wuppertal and later was a professor and director at Folkwang University. The duo’s first collaboration examines their shared histories and emotional experiences.