Practitioner Study

 

To develop a higher understanding of the work of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, I decided to dive into her piece ‘Rosas Danst Rosas’ as it has inspired part of my choreography. The piece consists of 4 dancers in simple and plain costume on wooden chairs which are randomly spaced in an otherwise empty room (Kaaitheater, 2021). The dancers look around and then to each other with a subtle nod. They then perform a series of motifs in different orders, so it appears everyone is performing different yet complementary phrases of movement with occasional, stand out moments of unison which allows the emotion of the piece to build. There is a feeling of struggle and haste that it perhaps emphasised by the repetition and accumulation which is quickly dissolved out of unison. The movements feel heavy and impactful, the dancers often are sat in one hip or slumped back in their chair or even fully relaxed over their legs, but this only happens for brief moments before a sharp bolt into the next movement. I enjoyed the abstract concept of full out movements mostly perched on a chair as I realised that the limitation in-fact holds more possibility than I would have thought.

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker use of her dancers was effective for many reasons, firstly the lack of dancers compared to the available seats that are in the set. To me it resembles that there could be more people there but perhaps there is a focus on this group of four that are scattered around the space as if they had an importance to a narrative to come. There is a lot of room for interpretation in the piece. I also appreciated the moments where the dancers are in unison as I mentioned before; because this almost shocks the viewer as it feels as though the dancers are all unaware of each other once the movement starts yet really, they are all building to this moment of unity. The relation between the dancers also translates to the relationship between the music and movement. As the music as a steady beat, it has other elements of percussion that emphasise the chaotic and unusual atmosphere which is then symbolised in movement. The atmosphere is created by the emotion the dancers have in the expression of their faces and through their bodies. This helps the audience respond to the atmosphere as these qualities (movement, music, emotion etc.) complement each other, therefore are easier to absorb as a viewer. Inspired by this piece, I will be looking for music that has strong rhythm yet incorporates sounds or a melody that are unusual and atmosphere building as I feel it is a key feature that has made ‘Rosas Danst Rosas’ so encapsulating.

Through learning this choreography, I have developed an understanding of Anne Teresa De Keersmaker’s choreographic strategy. She creates motifs that were then ordered into different phrases and the dancers were given these phrases in different orders to create the vision that they are all on different movement paths. This allows Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker to develop the chaotic energy of the work with underlying consistency, which makes the piece so enjoyable to watch.

 

Kaaitheater, 2021. Rosas | ROSAS DANST ROSAS. [image] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQCTbCcSxis&t=209s> [Accessed 31 October 2021].