Master Works, Colorado Ballet’s annual repertory production, returns with a captivating trio of powerhouse masterpieces that put artistic excellence and innovation on full display—Concerto Barocco by George Balanchine, The Rite of Spring by Glen Tetley, and the world premiere of a new work by Yoshihisa Arai commissioned by Colorado Ballet

“The Rite of Spring” by Glen Tetley is a powerful, intensely physical ballet that reimagines Stravinsky’s iconic score through Tetley’s signature blend of classical and modern dance. The work explores themes of ritual, sacrifice, and human instinct, using bold group movement, dramatic tension, and raw emotional energy to portray a community confronted with the terrifying necessity of choosing a victim to restore balance and renewal.

Glen Tetley’s “The Rite of Spring” is a fierce, physically explosive reinterpretation of Igor Stravinsky’s groundbreaking 1913 score. Blending classical ballet with modern dance, Tetley transforms the work into a visceral ritual that explores themes of community, instinct, sacrifice, and the primal forces that shape human existence. His choreography emphasizes raw athleticism, deep emotional intensity, and a constant tension between the individual and the collective.

The ballet takes place within a tribal-like society governed by ancient customs. The community moves as a powerful, unified force—driving rhythms, stamping motifs, spirals, and angular shapes dominate the ensemble sections, mirroring Stravinsky’s pounding, unpredictable score. Tetley uses large group formations that surge, collapse, and reform, creating an atmosphere of danger, urgency, and inevitability.

At the center of the drama stands the Chosen One, whose fate is to be sacrificed so that the community may be renewed. In Tetley’s version, the selection of the victim becomes a psychological as well as physical ordeal. The Chosen One is isolated, surrounded, and propelled by the group, struggling against fear, destiny, and the weight of tradition. The final solo—one of the most demanding passages in Tetley’s repertoire—pushes the dancer into extreme emotional and physical territory, embodying terror, surrender, and transcendence.

Visually, Tetley’s staging is typically stark and elemental. The set and costumes often emphasize the earthy, ritualistic nature of the piece—bare legs, muted colors, and sculptural lines highlight the dancers’ bodies and the choreography’s sculptural power. Lighting effects intensify the contrast between collective force and individual vulnerability, reinforcing the ballet’s ritualistic atmosphere.

Unlike some interpretations that lean heavily on storytelling, Tetley’s “Rite” focuses on psychological immediacy and kinesthetic power. It is less about depicting a specific culture and more about expressing a universal human ritual—an ancient cycle of fear, sacrifice, and renewal that resonates across time. Through its relentless energy and uncompromising physicality, the ballet becomes an exploration of humanity’s most primal instincts and the fragile balance between survival and destruction.

Glen Tetley’s “The Rite of Spring” remains one of the most intense and influential modern reinterpretations of Stravinsky’s masterpiece—an emotional storm of movement, rhythm, and ritual that leaves a deep imprint on both performers and audiences.

One of Balanchine’s greatest masterpieces, Concerto Barocco is music made visible as two elegant yet dynamic lead ballerinas each depict one of the instrumental soloists in a virtuosic double violin concerto.

Concerto Barocco had its beginnings as a School of American Ballet exercise and was first performed for the Latin American tour of the American Ballet Caravan in 1941. When it entered the repertory of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1945, the dancers were dressed in practice clothes, probably the first appearance of what has come to be regarded as the modern ballet costume pioneered by Balanchine.

Concerto Barocco was presented on the first performance of New York City Ballet in 1948, along with Balanchine's Orpheus and Symphony in C. It is considered the quintessential Balanchine ballet of its period, its manner entirely pure, its choreography no more, and no less, than an ideal response to its score, Bach's Double Violin Concerto in D Minor. About the ballet, the critic Clive Barnes wrote, "The three hallmarks of the American classic style are poetry, athleticism, and musicality, and these three graces are exquisitely exploited by Concerto Barocco."

Balanchine said of this work: “If the dance designer sees in the development of classical dancing a counterpart in the development of music and has studied them both, he will derive continual inspiration from great scores.” In the first movement of the concerto, the two ballerinas personify the violins, while a corps of eight women accompany them.

In the second movement, a largo, the male dancer joins the leading woman in a pas de deux. In the concluding allegro section, the entire ensemble expresses the syncopation and rhythmic vitality of Bach’s music.