Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, dancing within music
... the listening of music profoundly changes
in the presence of a dance that interacts with it.
I consider it as a transformation of the vibrations of one
tied to the presence of the other, a fusion that comes into being.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
A leading figure in Belgian dance since the 1980s, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, with her company Rosas, represents a key path in European choreography. Her intelligent and consistently innovative exploration of new elements, elaborated on the possible relationship between dance and music, has accompanied her artistic journey from the very beginning. Her choreographies, bright and captivating, leave a lasting impression due to their dynamic flow, sophisticated spatial vision, and the seductive blending of choreography and potential dramaturgical materials.
De Keersmaeker’s early creations also highlighted the expressive and compositional potential of female dance: the quartet Rosas danst Rosas, still in the repertoire today, was created in 1983 and danced by Anne Teresa herself along with Adriana Borriello, Michèle Anne De Mey, and Fumiyo Ikeda, to the music of Thierry De Mey and Peter Vermeersch. It is a landmark piece, representative of an approach that would set a precedent. Minimalist music, movement revolving around a precisely defined motion cell, but also a dance performed in short skirts and boots by four women, imposing a strong and revolutionary, yet highly feminine, style of choreography. A stunning beginning.
Over the years, her encounter with music did not stop at minimalism or female dance. The company expanded to include male dancers and engaged with musicians from different eras and styles, ranging from Bach, Monteverdi, Beethoven, Bartók, Mozart, John Coltrane, Luciano Berio, Steve Reich, to the Beatles and Joan Baez.
The encounter with Ars subtilior: En Atendant
The 2010 creation En Atendant, co-produced by Oriente Occidente, arrives in Rovereto after its world premiere in July at the Avignon Festival. It represents a new chapter in De Keersmaeker’s work on the relationship between music and dance. This time, the artist draws from Ars subtilior, a complex polyphonic form from the 14th century during the Western Schism, developed at the court of the Popes in Avignon: a music characterized by contrasts and dissonances, resonating with the political and religious fragmentation of the medieval society from which it emerged. A fragmentation that, more than ever, resonates with our confused times, providing an opportunity to reflect on mortality and the fragility of the individual through dance.
WHO IS ANNE TERESA DE KEERSMAEKER
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker trained in Brussels at Maurice Béjart’s Mudra school. Her first creation, Asch (1980), premiered at Mudra. She studied at the Tisch School of Arts at New York University. Upon returning to Brussels, she created the duo Fase to the music of Steve Reich. It was 1982. The following year, she founded the company Rosas and debuted with the quartet Rosas danst Rosas. Her productions grew increasingly complex: noteworthy titles include Elena’s Aria (1984), Bartók/Aantekeningen (1986), Ottone Ottone (1988), Achterland (1990), Mozart/Concert Arias: un moto di gioia (1992), Just Before (1997), Rain (2001), Zeitung (2008). From 1992 to 2007, Rosas was the resident company at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. In 1995, she inaugurated P.A.R.T.S., which would become one of the most important training centers in Europe, awarded this year with the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale.
