Drumming (1998) is one of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s most iconic choreographies, written to the eponymous, minimalistic percussion score by Steve Reich. The music starts with a single rhythmic motif, which subsequently multiplies and unfolds into a rich cornucopia of textures including drums, woodwinds, brass and voice. Reich here ramps up the technique already used in his earlier composition Piano Phase: through minor tempo accelerations the musicians almost imperceptibly push their unison out of joint, resulting in a never-ending volley of canons. In the dance, the choreographic complexity was devised in a similar fashion: a single movement phrase serves as the foundation for an infinite number of variations across time and space. When the music stops and the bodies come to a halt, the audience realizes what they have witnessed: a wave of pure dance and pure sound, a vortex of vital energy.
Bio
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker | Nel 1980, dopo aver studiato danza alla Mudra School di Bruxelles e alla Tisch School of the Arts di New York, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (nata nel 1960) ha creato Asch, il suo primo lavoro coreografico. Due anni dopo presentava la prima di Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich. De Keersmaeker ha fondato la compagnia di danza Rosas a Bruxelles nel 1983, mentre creava l’opera Rosas danst Rosas. A partire da queste pièce rivoluzionarie, ha sviluppato la sua ricerca coreografica sull’esplorazione rigorosa e prolifica del rapporto tra danza e musica. Con Rosas ha creato un ampio corpus di lavori coinvolgendo le strutture musicali e le partiture di diversi periodi, dalla musica antica agli idiomi contemporanei e popolari. La sua pratica coreografica fa propri anche i principi formali dalla geometria, dei modelli numerici, del mondo naturale e delle strutture sociali per offrire una prospettiva unica sull’articolazione del corpo nello spazio e nel tempo. Nel 1995 De Keersmaeker ha fondato la scuola P.A.R.T.S. (Atelier di ricerca e formazione in arti performative) a Bruxelles in collaborazione con De Munt/La Monnaie.
Credits
Choreography: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Danced by: Lav Crncevic, José Paulo dos Santos, Léa Dubois, Rafa Galdino, Frank Gizycki, Tessa Hall, Thomas Higginson, Mariana Miranda, Laura Maria Poletti, Margarida Ramalhete, Cintia Sebok, Jacob Storer, Mamadou Wagué
Created in 1998 with: Iris Bouche, Bruce Campbell, Marta Coronado, Alix Eynaudi, Fumiyo Ikeda, Martin Kilvády, Oliver Koch, Cynthia Loemij, Roberto Oliván de la Iglesia, Ursula Robb, Taka Shamoto, Rosalba Torres
Music: Steve Reich ‘Drumming’
Music direction: Gerrit Nulens
Musicians: Ictus
Percussion: Alexis Bourdon, Géry Cambier, Anita Cappuccinelli, Tom De Cock, Ruben Martinez Orio, Gerrit Nulens, Louis Preudhomme, Jessica Ryckewaert, Frank Van Eycken
Flute: Chryssi Dimitriou
Voice: Soetkin Elbers, Maris Pajuste
Set and lighting design: Jan Versweyveld
Costumes: Dries Van Noten
Choreoraphic assistants for the revival: Cynthia Loemij, Fumiyo Ikeda, Ursula Robb, Jakub Truszkowski, Clinton Stringer
Rehearsal director: Fumiyo Ikeda
Artistic coordination and planning: Anne Van Aerschot
Tourmanager: Bert De Bock
Sound: Alexandre Fostier
Technical director: Freek Boey
Costumes coordinator: Alexandra Verschueren
assisted by Els Van Buggenhout
Wardrobe: Ella De Vos, Emma Zune
Sewing: Emmanuelle Erhart
Technicians: Max Adams, Calvin Ferdinando Carrier, Jonathan Maes, Bennert Vancottem
Production Credits
1998 production: Rosas, De Munt / La Monnaie (Brussel/Bruxelles/Brussels), La Bâtie – Festival de Genève
Co-production: De Munt / La Monnaie (Brussel/Bruxelles/Brussels), Sadler’s Wells (Londen/Londres/London), Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
Première: 07.08.1998 ImpulsTanz Wien
with the support of
