The Rite of Spring (MacMillan) and 2008) Mara Galeazzi (2005), Zenaida Yanowsky (2005), Steven McRae (2011) and Edward Watson (2011). MacMillan had been invited to create a new production of "The Rite of Spring" for the Royal Ballet in 1959, but had declined. The company had little history of presenting Stravinsky ballets, with the exceptions of Ashton's "Le baiser de la fée" (1935) and "Scènes de ballet" (1948), and MacMillan's "Dances concertantes" (1955), "Agon" (1958) and "Le baiser de la fée" (1961). MacMillan took "The Rite" up in 1962, creating a work conspicuously removed from the Royal Ballet's classical tradition. His conception of the piece,
The Rite of Spring of the work would be called "The Kiss of the Earth", and would consist of games and ritual dances interrupted by a procession of sages, culminating in a frenzied dance as the people embraced the spring. Part Two, "The Sacrifice", would have a darker aspect; secret night games of maidens, leading to the choice of one for sacrifice and her eventual dance to the death before the sages. The original working title was changed to "Holy Spring" (Russian: " Vesna sviashchennaia"), but the work became generally known by the French translation "Le Sacre du printemps", or its English equivalent "The