“When do we add tension and stress?”
The asker is serious: She’s wondering at what point she needs to perform a series of stiff, striking motions. She’s a dancer for Deos Ballet, rehearsing, along with twelve others, for an upcoming production of The Rite of Spring. Tess Sinke, artistic director and choreographer, thinks for a moment. “That’s a good question,” she says.
We’re in a rehearsal space at Michigan Ballet Academy. Windows let in natural light and a view of trees, but no one’s looking outside. The dancers, two men and eleven women, concentrate on Sinke. They joke, sometimes; it’s an informal environment. But their focus—their seriousness—is evident.
Rehearsal director Christine Settembrino takes notes, corrects timing, and plays music over a speaker as required. She seems to be watching every dancer at once, as if she was blessed with more than the normal number of eyes.
Isabelle Ramey, lead dancer, says, “Sometimes having to go offstage and back on is more energy. So if you can just plop me somewhere…” She hunches over. “Herg, herg, herg.” (The “hergs” are her pretending to breathe hard).
Sinke agrees. “It’s good if you look terrified and tired.”
“That’s how I’ll be feeling!”
Sinke takes hold of another dancer’s shoulder. “Let me move you a little to the right.” Sinke is decisive but also collaborative, accounting for her dancers’ strengths and willing to consider their feedback. Always alert for ways to improve. It strikes me that the process isn’t unlike writing a second draft: cutting down on commas, reworking phrasing.
Ramey and Madison Massara-Leister are the focus now. They’re performing a duet, one in which they circle each other and clasp hands. Ramey, supported by Massara-Leister, slowly bends backward; the other dancer pulls her forward again before bending back herself; Ramey bends backward a second time, finally falling to the floor. They try different grips. “I like this,” Ramey says. “I like holding her thumb.”
Settembrino plays a particularly fraught passage from the score. “Stravinsky chose violence,” she says.
Everyone speaks in a combination of technical terms and metaphors. Along with the relevés and pliets, there are references to The Matrix and the Salem witch trials. One movement is described as pulsing, not chugging. Of another, Sinke says, “Let’s make it less hinge, more ‘I just fell.’” The creepy motion. Hit that mark and melt.
Left elbow. Right elbow. Both slicing in front. Throw back left. Throw back right. Bring it to your chin.
“Can we hear all this from the duck?” Sinke asks. “Otherwise known as the oboe,” a dancer clarifies.
It all works; everyone understands everyone. It’s like a shared language has developed.
Toward the end of my time observing, Sinke has them perform the opening to the ballet. It’s astonishing. Dancers pass mere feet away from me, moving with speed, precision, and power. The floor vibrates underneath them. It’s like being in the middle of a storm.
# # #
A storm is exactly what The Rite of Spring caused on its premiere, held at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on May 29th, 1913. “Never,” wrote Gustav Linor, “has the hall been so full, or so resplendent; the stairways and the corridors were crowded with spectators eager to see and hear.” What happened when they saw, and heard, tends to be described today as a riot.
That wasn’t the goal. Stravinsky wanted The Rite of Spring to capture what spring meant to pagan Russia: “the mystery and great surge of the creative power of Spring.” Appropriately, his score is sometimes haunting, sometimes frantic, and constantly surprising; even today, its quick time changes and shuffling of moods can be shocking. The original choreography was strange and new, too: stomping and awkward, deliberately avoiding much that was traditionally seen as beautiful in movement. The combination proved too much for the premiere crowd.
The audience, grumbling, laughing, and shouting, was said to have overpowered the orchestra itself. Two factions, one wealthy and one bohemian, began attacking each other. Anything at hand was thrown at the orchestra. Some 40 audience members were ejected. Despite it all, the performance continued; today, The Rite of Spring is considered a classic.
“I really like Stravinsky,” Sinke said. “This was a bucket-list show for me.” Over a year ago, the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, located in Petoskey, approached Deos about collaborating on a production. She leapt at the chance.
While some of Nijinsky’s original choreography has been lost to time, photos, notes, and other archival material exist; in 1980, the Joffrey Ballet staged what Sinke calls a “resurrected version.” That’s far from the only version, however. Martha Graham, Pina Bausch, and other important choreographers have created new choreography.
By doing so herself, Sinke was able to become part of that history. It also allowed Deos’ dancers to stretch themselves, given the challenging nature of the material. That fits in well with Deos’ mission of uplifting artists.
In choreographing The Rite of Spring, Sinke felt free to depart from what’s known about the original choreography. “Modern movement vocabulary and freedom has expanded,” she said. “I don’t feel tied to keeping the same movement constraints. Ours is much more fluid.”
Deos will premiere Rite of Spring on July 17th, in Petoskey, MI; the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra will play the score. Then, from August 1st-3rd, it will be performed onstage at Grand Rapids’ St. Cecilia Music Center as part of Collide Series 25, the company’s largest production of the year.
Two stages of different sizes: another challenge in a ballet that already has a host of them. While the core choreography will remain the same, the differing dimensions of the Petoskey stage require differing approaches, including a slightly smaller group of dancers.
Regardless of the venue, Sinke doesn’t anticipate a riot. “We’ve never had one before. But if we do this time, that’s just extra success.”
Rite of Spring
Great Lakes Center for the Arts
800 Bay Harbor Dr., Petoskey
July 17
Collide Series 2025
St. Cecilia Music Center
24 Ransom Ave. NE, Grand Rapids
Aug. 1-3
https://www.deosballet.com/2025-2026-season/collide-series-25
