Steingo’s article challenges the traditional view of the 1923 ballet Les Noces (choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska with music by Igor Stravinsky) as a purely "neoclassical" or "Russian nationalist" work. Instead, he explores the ballet through the lens of . Key Points
: He highlights how Nijinska’s choreography mimics the mechanical and repetitive movements of manual labor. The dancers aren't just performing a ritual; they are performing "effort," which connects the avant-garde stage to the reality of the working class. Crafted by Many Hands: Re-Reading Bronislava Ni...
: The article examines how Les Noces sits at a crossroads of European modernism and "peripheral" Russian identity, suggesting the ballet acts as a critique of Western industrialization and the commodification of culture. Steingo’s article challenges the traditional view of the
The article you are referring to is titled , written by Gavin Steingo and published in The Opera Quarterly (Volume 31, Issue 4, Autumn 2015) . Core Argument The dancers aren't just performing a ritual; they
: Steingo looks at the physical materials of the production—like the simple brown and white costumes—to show how the ballet stripped away imperial Russian opulence in favor of a "poverty of means" that emphasizes the raw humanity of the collective.
: While history often focuses on the individual brilliance of Nijinska or Stravinsky, Steingo argues that the work's aesthetic is rooted in the "many hands" of the collective, echoing the peasant wedding rituals it depicts.