The original dance theater production ”The Rite of Spring,” co-presented by Shanghai Pudong Media Group, a subsidiary of the Waigaoqiao Group, and Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts, will debut in Shanghai this October.
On October 11 and 12, ”The Rite of Spring” will take the stage at Shanghai Grand Theater, inviting audiences to walk alongside the young artists of a century ago in pursuit of artistic truth.
In 1913, the ballet ”The Rite of Spring” premiered in Paris, France, sending shockwaves through the world of modern art. The clash between old and new, tradition and modernity, made ”The Rite of Spring” a defining event that spurred social transformation and ideological shifts across the globe.
In 2025, Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts presents its original dance theater interpretation of ”The Rite of Spring,” offering a fresh perspective on its enduring spirit. The story begins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when many young Chinese students journeyed abroad in search of truth—among them, aspiring artists. Paris, then the world’s cultural and artistic capital, became a top destination for these young talent. Renowned artists such as Lin Fengmian, Xu Beihong, and Wu Guanzhong once studied in Paris.
With deep reverence for history, Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts’s work focuses on this group of artists in Paris, weaving together the turbulence of the era and individual destinies through vivid, innovative choreography and rich poetic imagery. The production paints a profound and complex modern portrait, highlighting the resilience and passionate emotional depth of then-unknown young pioneers. Jiangsu Centre for the Performing Arts reconstructs a cross-temporal artistic dialogue, infusing the classic with contemporary aesthetics and a distinctly Chinese interpretation, allowing it to resonate once again in the theater.
