Firebird

American Repertory Ballet presents an evening of ballets inspired by the 20th-century works of Sergei Diaghilev’s revolutionary Ballets Russes. The ambitious program includes the world premiere of Artistic Director Douglas Martin’s Firebird and his critically acclaimed Rite of Spring, both set to the influential and provocative music of Igor Stravinsky. Martin’s Rite is at once a celebratory ode to the advent of spring and a statement on the theme of ritualistic behavior and sacrifice: “Part sentimental tribute and part screwball comedy, Martin’s Rite avoids primitivist clichés and, in gender parity, it manages to find a concept still radical enough to make audiences squirm.” (Robert Johnson, The Star-Ledger).