World premiere in 2004 at the Festival Uzès Danse
Bessy Award in 2006 at Lincoln Center Festival in New York

SACRE is a revisited version of the piece originally created by Emanuel Gat to Stravinsky's eponymous score back in 2004. A work for three women and two men, SACRE takes apart the mechanics of Cuban salsa dancing, and reassembles them to create a complex and dramaturgically charged choreographic score. 

A free spirited and challenging reading of Stravinsky's masterpiece, SACRE offers no notions of sacrifice, but rather a multitude of options for action.

"These five dancers move through Gat's simmering, undulating salsa steps in crimson light that enhances a red rug defining the action hotspot while adding a note of domesticity […] they weave the movement crisply and fluidly to the recorded orchestration of Stravinsky's score. It remains a hypnotic, inexorable ritual driven by primal instincts."

Susan Yung, Ephemeralist

"Did you know that you could dance salsa on Stravinsky? Proof of this is the scintillating performance of the choreographer Emanuel Gat. His interpretation of the "Rite of Spring" is as iconoclastic as it is exciting. The Israeli artist has captured the lustful liveliness of salsa, which slips effortlessly into the percussive flow of the music. As for the ascent of sex, it explodes with a fatalist peak which is at the heart of the spiral of love. At full speed, couples form, swaying together and then breaking off. They change partners without the movement stopping, forming an uninterrupted chain of salsa, blending in so swiftly that the individual dancers can no longer be identified. Amid this whirlwind, the impetus provided by Stravinsky's music is easy to discern. In this modern game of hunting, everything is beautiful and dangerous. The suspense is intense: men select a partner in turns, creating a crescendo of anxiety until the final choice is made."

Rosita Boisseau, Le Monde

Credits

Music: The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky
Choreography, Lights & Costumes: Emanuel Gat
For five dancers.

Production: Emanuel Gat Dance
Co-production: The Suzanne Dellal Centre (Israel), Festival Uzès Danse, Monaco Dance Forum.
With the help of: Dellal foundation, Theatre de Olivier in Istres, Ballet Monte-Carlo, the Foundation of Philippe de Rothschild.

Production 2015 : Emanuel Gat Dance
Created during a working residency at Montpellier Danse, Agora -  Cité Internationale pour la Danse and at Maison de la Danse d'Istres