Drumming by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker / Rosas
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.
Choreography
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Danced by
Kim Amankwaa, Boštjan Antončič, Laura Bachman, Alex Blondeau, Cassandre Cantillon, Lav Crnčević, Sophia Dinkel, José Paulo dos Santos, Léa Dubois, Anika Edström Kawaji, Papis Faye, Rafael Galdino, Frank Gizycki, Yuika Hashimoto, Thomas Higginson, Audrey Merilus, Mariana Miranda, Laura Maria Poletti, Margarida Ramalhete, Soa Ratsifandrihana, Lena Schattenberg, Cintia Sebők, 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
Georges-Elie Octors
Musicians
Ictus
Set and lighting
Jan Versweyveld
Costumes
Dries Van Noten
Photos
Anne Van Aerschot
Production 1998
Rosas, La Monnaie / De Munt (Brussels), La Bâtie - Festival de Genève
Coproduction
La Monnaie / De Munt (Brussels), Sadler's Wells (London), Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
Premiere
07.08.1998 ImpulsTanz (Vienna)
Revival in 2020
13.10.2020 RPS (Brussels)