Ballet is back

The Sacramento Ballet presents three pieces featuring the groundbreaking and often percussive music of Igor Stravinsky, who shook up the arts in the early 1900s. The Rite of Spring, with choreography by Ron Cunningham (Sacramento Ballet's co-artistic director) is set to Stravinsky's notorious 1913 score, which triggered fistfights in the theater during its Paris premiere a century ago (and still sounds pretty radical today). The Rite of Spring is set in the distant past, with dancers enacting a primitive ritual of sacrifice—too much for some during the waning years of the belle epoque. Also on the program: Cunningham's choreography of The Firebird (Stravinsky's most popular score) and Rubies, a 1967 classic by George Balanchine, set to Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 24, through Saturday, October 26, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, October 27, at 2 p.m.; $16-$67. Community Center Theater, 1301 L Street; (916) 552-5800; www.sacballet.org.