Les Noces

Les Noces is a ballet in four scenes with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska and music by Igor Stravinsky, setting Russian-language folk texts depicting the rituals of a peasant wedding. It received its world premiere by the Ballets Russes at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Lyrique in Paris on 13 June 1923. The four scenes — the blessing of the bride, the blessing of the bridegroom, the bride's departure from her parental home, and the wedding feast — are rendered in a stark, hieratic choreographic style that strips away individual expression in favour of collective ritual. Nijinska's work has been widely recognised as a landmark of twentieth-century ballet, combining post-Romantic abstraction with deep roots in Russian folk culture.