In Amar Toor’s 100 years ago today, ‘The Rite of Spring’ incited a riot in a Paris theater, they discuss how no one can accurately describe what happened there because there are so many different interpretations, but one thing is for sure: they know that the night ended in chaos. They believed that during the performance, with the ballerinas’ sharp violent movements, the audience began to yell, and it became so chaotic that the ballerinas could not hear the orchestra. After that, the audience began to harass the orchestra by throwing vegetables to them and that’s when the fight began. They weren’t sure if there were cops but it turned into a very chaotic scene with everyone yelling at each other and vegetables being thrown. However, because of this, Stravinsky is known for causing a shift in the music world as we know.   

In Linda’s version, some of the dance moves were a bit exaggerated because of the limited frame the audience could see. Often, the moves were taken from “exotic” people for amusement and the aristocrats that this was the case, so they laughed. But because of the aristocrats’ laughter, critics and musicians found it offensive so they insulted the aristocrats. But that was the most “violent” it ever was. It turns out that there was explosive temper, but the arguments mostly were political, not really about the art. In fact, the riot didn’t happen; the supposed “riot” that occurred was a man sitting behind Carl Van Vechtan beat rhythmically on top of his head. It just so happened that the word riot seemed to paSs on when describing what took place that night  

I honestly thought it was a bit disturbing because I tend to lean towards softer music. I can only imagine what it was like sitting in the audience, in the dark, having this sharp music being played and then dancers following the harsh dance music. Considering the year, I most likely would’ve endured the ballet and then afterwards, never attended another one of Stravinsky’s ballets.