The Ballets Russes premiered Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, a ballet about a pagan sacrifice in ancient Russia, danced to music no one had heard anything like. Within minutes the audience was laughing, whistling and shouting. Fights broke out between supporters and enemies. Nijinsky stood on a chair in the wings yelling counts to the dancers, who couldn't hear the orchestra. Diaghilev flicked the house lights on and off. The words are imagined.