Aterballetto in Stravinsky Evening: Le Noces and Le Sacre, choreography by Mauro Bigonzetti. Serge Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky are buried in the cemetery on the tiny island of S. Michele in Venice. Though separated in life by 40 years, Stravinsky's tomb is only a couple of metres away. Their influence on dance in their lifetime was enormous; the inspiration they give today is even greater. That inspiration and the whole extraordinary adventure of the Ballets Russes is at the heart of Bigonzetti’s desire to give these works prominence in the repertory of his excellent ballet company.

Les Noces, which has inspired countless choreographers since Nijinsky's staging in 1923, is about submission, order and discipline. It is basically very static, in black and white, and deals with the relationship of a bride and bridegroom who are merely objects at the mercy of society. Duty and habit replace feeling and love. Bigonzetti’s Le Sacre is a newer creation, one however that had always pulsed inside him.

Referring to the words Stravinsky himself used to describe his writing of Le Sacre: “I had only my ear to help me. I heard and I wrote what I heard. I am the vessel through which Le Sacre passed” suggesting the strength of an idea that seeps into us, settles and eventually emerges. Bigonzetti says of his own Sacre: “We are born knowing it. It settles for years and uses our body as a vase. Then one day...”. Aterballetto has the homogeneity needed to perform works such as these. Teatro Olimpico, Piazza Gentile da Fabriano. Info tel. 063201752, www.filarmonicaromana.org.