“The Rite of Spring” in Dewey Dell’s interpretation is a visual feast on the eternal cycle of life and death. An engrossing performance, both in energy and form, it invites audiences to revisit Stravinsky’s canonical work, juxtaposing the revolutionary music of this ballet milestone with contemporary dance techniques—both modern and popular—alongside precise visual dramaturgy. In line with Niżyński’s intent, expressed in a letter to the composer before the legendary premiere, the Italian “Rite of Spring” is ‘something new, beautiful, and entirely different.

In every metamorphosis and profound change of a human life, death is always by the side of life, appearing as a rite of passage or as an inward revolution. 

In the animal and plant kingdom the coexistence of life and death becomes even more literal: death is often part of the fecundation process and life swarms on decomposed carcasses. Especially among insects, seeds, and molds, death is a welcoming presence; death is an invitation to life. The cyclic regeneration of the seasons and of the fertility of the soil are not a linear journey, but a chaotic disruption of all the elements together. Spring is a time of great agitation and the terror of existing is forever blended with the sidereal joy of being.

Dewey Dell consists of sisters Teodora and Agata Castellucci, playwright and lighting director Vito Matera, and composer Demetrio Castellucci (the surname’s similarity is no coincidence). The stunning costumes, whose movement and dynamics will serve as a counterpoint to the museum-like reverence of “Embodying Pasolini,” are designed by Guoda Jaruševičiūtė.

Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund.