The Rite of Spring (MacMillan) The Rite of Spring (MacMillan) The Rite of Spring is a one-act ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1962 for the Royal Ballet. The music is Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" (1913). The conductor was Colin Davis; the designs were by Sidney Nolan. The first performance was given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 3 May 1962. The central role of the Chosen One was danced by Monica Mason who continued to tale the part in revivals up to 1982. Mason supervised later revivals, in which the Chosen One was danced by, among others, Tamara Rojo, (2005
The Rite of Spring the public would receive the work, and suggested that they might react badly if they thought they were being mocked. On the evening of 29 May, Gustav Linor reported, "Never ... has the hall been so full, or so resplendent; the stairways and the corridors were crowded with spectators eager to see and to hear". The evening began with "Les Sylphides", in which Nijinsky and Karsavina danced the main roles. "The Rite" followed. Some eyewitnesses and commentators said that the disturbances in the audience began during the Introduction, and grew in a crescendo when the curtain rose on the stamping