It took the genius of Stravinsky to transform traditional Russian wedding songs into an unusual and powerful work. Martin Harriague was well prepared for the challenge, having choreographed his own version of The Rite of Spring in 2022 for Malandain Ballet Biarritz—a production acclaimed in Paris (Théâtre National de Chaillot), in Lyon (Maison de la Danse), and still touring across France and abroad. Now, Les Noces leads him into another form of primitive rite.

Carried by the strangeness of Russian folk songs, this traditional wedding appears deceptively joyful. Harriague understood this perfectly. While he knows how to entertain the audience by highlighting the slightly quirky side of this microcosm, there is no sense of carefree celebration in these forced nuptials. A tension runs through his choreography—a sense that anything could happen within this group brought together by circumstance. Behind the family portrait, we glimpse rivalries, the burden of secrets, hopes of seduction, and clashes of honor.

Stravinsky wished for his musicians to share the stage with the dancers. Harriague fulfills this wish in his own way: he asks the dancers to become, if not the instruments themselves, at least the messengers of the musical score. He establishes a dialogue between musical structure and choreographic form.

Each dancer was able to make the work their own through a truly collaborative process. The result is a richness of movement that gives every wedding guest a unique personality, within a collective where song, orchestration, and dance are inseparable.