Drumming Live
A vortex of life energy
Drumming (1998) is undoubtedly one of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s most fascinating choreographic works: a dazzling dance set to a powerful score for percussion by the American minimalist Steve Reich. Reich’s work had provided De Keersmaeker with a guiding musical thread ever since Fase (1982), her debut as a choreographer.
Reich wrote Drumming in 1970-71, shortly after a study trip to Africa. The scored is based on a single obsessive rhythmic motif: it multiplies and develops into a rich variety of textures. A composition in which, in addition to skins, wood and metal, one also hears the subtle presence of voices. In this work Reich takes to the extreme the technique he had previously applied in Piano Phase (a part of Fase): by accelerating, the musicians almost imperceptibly ‘disrupt’ their unison playing, which gives rise to an endless interplay of canons, each reflecting the other. The Ictus Ensemble bring this compelling score to life with breath-taking precision.
In her choreography, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker preserves the spirit of the score and at the same time enriches it: just as in the music, the complexity of the choreography arises out of a single phrase of movement to which endless variations in time and space are applied. It is only when the drums fall silent and the bodies come to a standstill that the spectator realizes what he has witnessed: a stunning journey, a wave of pure dance and pure sound, a vortex of life energy.
Concert Drumming Band
After the performance on Friday 10 January the dancers and musicians will be treating us to a concert: they will play interpretations of their favourite music, a mixture of covers and their own work, all in the Kaaicafé!
Matinee Kadee - Sunday 12/01 - 15:00
For parents: Rosas, Drumming Live
For the children: circus skills workshop by Zonder Handen circus studio. We learn how to juggle, spin plates, use a diabolo, walk on a barrel etc., like real circus artists!
Crèche for younger brothers and sisters between 0 and 4 years old
Participation is free, provided there is a paid booking for the matinee performance.
choreography Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker | danced by Bostjan Antoncic, Linda Blomqvist, Marta Coronado, Tale Dolven, Carlos Garbin, Fumiyo Ikeda, Cynthia Loemij, Valentina Nelissen, Sandra Ortega, Elizaveta Penkova, Igor Shyshko, Marco Torrice, Jakub Truszkowski, Samantha Van Wissen, Sue-Yeon Youn | 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 Georges-Elie Octors, Gerrit Nulens, Géry Cambier, Miquel Bernat, Tom De Cock, Michael Weilacher, Jessica Ryckewaert, Frank Van Eycken, Alexis Bourdon (percussions); Michael Schmid (flutes); Soetkin Baptist, Lore Binon (voice) | set and light design Jan Versweyveld | assistant set and light design Geert Peymen | costumes Dries Van Noten | assistants costumes Anne-Catherine Kunz, Aouatif Boulaich | assistant choreography revival Roberto Oliván de la Iglesia | rehearsal director Muriel Hérault | assistant to the artistic direction Anne Van Aerschot | sound Alexandre Fostier | technical coordination Joris Erven | technicians Jan Herinckx, Wannes De Rydt, Michael Smets, Bert Van Dyck | production 1998 Rosas, De Munt / La Monnaie (Brussels), La Bâtie – Festival de Genève | Coproduction 2012 De Munt / La Monnaie (Brussels), Sadler’s Wells (London), Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg | premiere 07.08.1998 ImpulsTanz Wien
