The Infernal Dance opens with one enormous chord from the whole orchestra. Anyone who dozed off during the Khorovod is now awake.
The plot: the Firebird enchants Kashchei and his monsters and makes them dance until they collapse. The music is built on syncopation. The accents land off the beat, the low brass and bassoons stamp out the theme, and the xylophone rattles on top. I’ve complained before about how hard it is to play together.
This is the movement that points forward. A dance forced on someone until they drop is also how The Rite of Spring ends, where the Chosen One dances herself to death. Kashchei’s monsters were the dress rehearsal.