Riot at the Rite

In spring 1913 Gabriel Astruc opens a new Paris theatre on the Champs‑Élysées, presenting the Ballet Russes’ premiere of Stravinsky’s avant‑garde score The Rite of Spring. Rehearsals are fraught: the orchestra resists the harsh, atonal music, dancers reject Vaslav Nijinsky’s stark choreography, and Nijinsky’s volatile, bisexual temperament strains his relationship with the older impresario Sergei Diaghilev. With expectations soaring after Nijinsky’s success in L’après‑midi d’un faune, the debut erupts before a fashionable, gossip‑driven audience sharply divided over its daring vision.