Chinese superstar choreographer delivers a sexy spectacle in Brisbane

It confounds and delights in equal measure but this erotic and mystical take on one of the greatest musical compositions of the 20th century is unforgettable and another Brisbane Festival highlight.

RITE OF SPRING

Until Saturday, September 28,

Playhouse, QPAC

Reviewed by Phil Brown, Arts Editor

Rating: 4 out of 5

Combining eroticism with mysticism is not easy but Chinese superstar choreographer Yang Liping serves an equal measure of both quite successfully in Rite of Spring. I loved the beginning of this show with multiple-coloured bodhisattvas in meditation with a Tibetan Buddhist monk on stage too.

Om: meditating dancers set the scene before things go a bit sexy in Rite of Spring. Picture: Justin Nicholas

Interesting to see a Chinese show featuring Tibetan Buddhism when you consider what they have done to Tibet. Is this homage or cultural appropriation? Possibly both

There is plenty of sacred movement and lots of mystical elements but at times it gets raunchy and downright erotic. So much so you want to rush up on stage and throw a bucket of cold water on them. But you can’t do that, right?

Dancers get up close and personal in Rite of Spring at Brisbane Festival

The music by Igor Stravinsky is book-ended by Tibetan infused New Age stuff by He Xuntian, which warms us up and calms us down after the rigours and hysteria of Stravinsky. Rite of Spring was a sensation when premiered in Paris as a ballet in 1913 causing a near riot. The music itself promotes histrionics and there is plenty in this production as we follow the story of a sacrificial victim who in the end embraces her fate which will lead to reincarnation in the Tibetan tradition.

At times the tension of the music whips the dancers into a frenzy until things calm down again at the end. There are some mesmerising scenes and I loved the huge man eating lion. But some scenes are quite baffling and I was often left asking myself : “What just happened?” So please study your program carefully.

You will be dazzled by the set for a very good reason. It was designed by Oscar-winning Tim Yip of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame.

Thanks to him this production looks amazing.

This is a return to Brisbane Festival for Yang Liping (she bought her sensational show Under Siege here in 2017) who is a superstar in her home country. It’s hard for us to grasp just how big a star she is but Chinese people in the audience seemed to almost swoon when she came on to take a bow with the dancers at the end. Brisbane Festival artistic director David Berthold first saw her work some years ago in Shanghai and was keen to bring her back again with this remarkable piece. Rite of Spring has been done countless times in a multitude of styles and iterations but never like this before.