The Cage is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Stravinsky's Concerto in D. The ballet depicts a tribe of female insects that preys on their male counterparts, in which the Novice falls in love with a male intruder, before being overcome by her animal instincts to kill him.
Among a tribe of female insect that preys on their male counterparts, The Novice, the daughter of The Queen, is born, and her membranous covering is removed.
Two years before Robbins began working on the ballet, he discovered Stravinsky's Concerto in D on the flip side of a recording of Apollon Musagète.
[4]: 186 For his new female lead, he chose Nora Kaye, for her "terrific drive and forcefulness and difference of personality.
As one cannot read into [the] eyes or thinking [of] an insect she remained appalling in her surrenders, instincts and actions – an extraordinary creature – not a ballerina doing ketchy movements.
[3]: 190 In the choreography, he took inspiration from the animals he researched on, as well as Thai and Balinese court dancing, which he studied when he worked on The King and I.
Yvonne Mounsey, who originated the role of the Queen, noted that Robbins was "a bit rough" with the corps.
Though she was already a registered member of United Scenic Artists, The Cage marked the first time she worked as a designer in New York.
[3]: 191 On the New York City Ballet's European tour in 1952, there was an attempt to ban The Cage, which a Dutch dance critic described as "pornographic", in The Hague.
[4]: 195 In 1972, The Cage was included in the New York City Ballet's Stravinsky Festival, a tribute to the composer a year after his death.
[6][7] Following the premiere, John Martin of the New York Times commented, "It is an angry, sparse, unsparing piece, decadent in its concern with misogyny and its contempt for procreation.