Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker meets Vivaldi: four men, four temperaments

The second edition of the Performing Arts Season recently started at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele with the concert performance “Bark of Millions,” a celebration of queerness. The first dance piece in the series was “Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione” presented by the Compagnie Rosas. Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker is famous for translating musical structures into dance. She always deals intensively with the compositions.

Nevertheless, it is surprising that she has now chosen the greatest baroque hit with Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. What’s even more surprising is that the 64-year-old didn’t design the choreography alone. For the Vivaldi evening she has chosen the Moroccan, Brussels-based choreographer Radouan Mriziga as her partner. He was educated at the PARTS school, which De Keersmaeker founded in 1995. The master and her student? It is not known exactly what the working relationship between the two was. You can see De Keersmaeker’s signature in the piece, but it is also an attempt to open up to new forms of expression.

This is evident in the selection of dancers. Boštjan Antončič, Lav Crnčević and José Paulo dos Santos are known from the Rosas’ earlier pieces. The breakdancer Nassim Baddag is there for the first time. Four men, four temperaments. Little by little, the individuality of the performers emerges – that’s what makes the performance so appealing.

© AnneVan Aerschot

But the audience has to wait a long time until Vivald’s four violin concertos are played. At first, only flickering neon tubes can be seen in the stage area. As if the choreographer wanted to show us how alienated we have become from nature.

Boštjan Antončič opens the evening with a solo. He dances in silence, arcs his arm, raises one knee and tilts forward. He briefly moves his arms like the wings of a bird. In quick succession he reels off gestures that are impossible to make sense of. When the music finally begins, it is not the theme from “Primavera” that can be heard, but rather a short excerpt from the second movement from “Autunno”. Soaring sounds to which Antončič sinks to the ground. It’s a brittle beginning, as it emphasizes the heaviness where one hopes for Mediterranean lightness.

One by one the other three dancers enter the stage. They first look for connections and come together in a ritual dance, raising their arms in a V and crossing them in front of their faces. Later they do an amusing tap dance number. Then again all four gallop across the stage like wild horses, especially the light-footed Paulo dos Santos combining cockiness with grace.

Lav Crnčević’s comedic talent shines through. He gives the movements something slightly exalted. When his pink shirt billows out into a chiffon cloud during the pirouettes, it looks adorable. Nassim Baddag is phenomenal, varying the spins on his shoulders and head in imaginative ways and twisting and screwing his extremely flexible body as if he were a cartoon character.

The Primavera theme sounds particularly fresh in the recording by Amandine Beyer and Gli Incogniti. The four dancers first perform a figure eight and then whirl across the stage in long turning sequences. Circles, spirals, cyclical passages are often seen in the Rosas. But here the cycle of the seasons is disrupted.

Motifs such as sowing and harvesting, skating or drunkenness alternate with abstract movements. Jokes are allowed; The fact that the men’s piece still develops an emotional intensity is due to the great performers. The four of them exert themselves to the point of exhaustion and dance their hearts out.

There were allegations of bullying against the star choreographer

Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker is an icon of contemporary dance. But a shadow lies over the celebrated choreographer. In June she was confronted with allegations of bullying from her company. The Belgian newspaper “De Standaard” made the allegations public. There was talk of an authoritarian leadership style and a toxic working atmosphere.

The Berlin Festival never considered canceling the performances, said a press spokeswoman when asked by the Tagesspiegel. She referred to a statement on the company’s website. Other festivals also continue to show Rosas’ pieces – a right decision. De Keersmaeker has also commented in the meantime. “I want to apologize to all the people I disappointed and hurt along the way,” she said.

After the performance she seemed thoughtful. Her piece “Exit Above – after the tempest” was voted production of the year in the critics’ survey by “Tanz” magazine. Referring to the current political situation, she said: “I have never experienced such a complicated storm as today. As individuals and communities, we have to question ourselves.” Her interaction with the dancers was warm. And with the Vivaldi evening she once again proved that she is an outstanding artist.