The Triadic Ballet

…Das triadisches Ballett (1922; “The Triadic Ballet”)—a ballet that he choreographed and for which he designed costumes. He named it “Triadic” to reflect the three acts, three dancers, and three colours (one for each act). The costumes he designed—based on cylinder, sphere, cone, and spiral shapes—were revolutionary. That ballet…

…pure, geometric form in the Triadisches Ballet performed in Stuttgart in 1922. In 1926 a sound vision of the technological ages, Ballet mécanique (Mechanical Ballet), by the American composer George Antheil (1900–59), was scored for mechanical pianos, automobile horns, electric bells, and airplane propellers. It was written not for the…

…under the title of The Triadic Ballet. This work was a fantasy in which the dancers’ costumes transformed them into “metaphysical anatomy.” The ballet achieved the dematerialization of the stage as contrasting shapes in contrasting colours appeared to propel themselves along a variety of paths in three-dimensional space. Experiments were…