In *Sacre*, a dancer and two pianists breathe new life into Igor Stravinsky’s famous *The Rite of Spring*. A leading choreographer of the French “nouvelle danse” movement of the 1980s, Daniel Larrieu presents *Sacre* as the culminating work of a prestigious career spanning more than 40 years. This is a solo version of the monumental piece, written for Sophie Billon, a young performer with whom he has been collaborating for several years. Alongside the dancer, pianists Caroline Delcampe and Alexandra Vizman perform the four-hand piano version composed by Igor Stravinsky himself. Together, the three performers create a landscape in which the tension gradually builds until it makes the entire space vibrate. Daniel Larrieu distills the precision of a deeply musical, subtle, and elegant choreographic style while preserving this iconic work’s power to shake the audience to its core.
In the first part of the evening, *Impromptu* explores a form of spontaneous composition in collaboration with the audience. Audience members draw lots to select short pieces for four-hand piano composed by Satie, Dvořák, Saint-Saëns, Brahms, Grieg, and Ravel. Sophie Billon and Daniel Larrieu improvise—alone or together—to these pieces, performed live by Caroline Delcampe and Alexandra Vizman. This serves as an invitation to dialogue and spontaneity before the rigorous choreography of *Sacre*.
