‘Rite of Spring at 100’ impact extends beyond stage

Imagine that a show starring Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga was so strange and revolutionary that the audience hurled stones and started riots.

This is the analogy that Severine Neff, a UNC professor in the music department, used to describe the magnitude of Igor Stravinsky and Vaslav Nijinsky’s 1913 ballet “The Rite of Spring.”

Carolina Performing Arts is celebrating the centennial anniversary of the ballet with “The Rite of Spring at 100,” featuring multiple performances inspired by it.

But the focus on the controversial work extends beyond the stage and into the classroom.

The art, music, communication and English departments at UNC have created 15 courses that incorporate the performances and ideas of “The Rite of Spring at 100.”

“The idea is that ‘The Rite of Spring’ can’t be defined to a person sitting in Memorial Hall,” Neff said.

“If you’re a sculptor, it’s your piece of marble, and we talk about that piece of marble.”

The courses, which range from Avant-Garde Film to Digital Puppet Animation, all share common roots in the principles of modernism and literature.

Erin Carlston’s course, Literature and the Other Arts, is designed around the culture of modernism and “The Rite of Spring.” The course curriculum examines four texts in the context of visual art, music and dance in Europe and America.

Her students study authors like T.S. Eliot and Marcel Proust, as well as modernist pieces of art, including paintings, music and ballet.

Carlston said professors are seeking to reveal trends across different facets of art and academia while integrating guest speakers and performances related to “The Rite of Spring.”

In the majority of these classes, students are required to attend and write about one of CPA’s “The Rite of Spring at 100” performances, which they can attend free of charge.

They also get to hear from guest speakers like performers from the Joffrey Ballet, the company that restored “The Rite of Spring” in 1987.

Carol Longoria, a student enrolled in Carlston’s course, said she had no idea the class would incorporate the CPA performances when she signed up. However, she said she would definitely recommend the class to a friend.

John McGowan, who organized “The Rite of Spring at 100” courses, said he contacted specific professors and asked if they would participate.

“The key idea is to better integrate what is being done in Memorial Hall into the academic life of students and faculty on campus,” McGowan said.

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