Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Encyclopedia
Anne Teresa, Baroness De Keersmaeker (born 1960 in Mechelen
, Belgium, grew up in Wemmel) is one of the most prominent choreographers in contemporary dance
. The dance company constructed around her, Rosas, was in residence at La Monnaie
in Brussels
from 1992 to 2007.
in Brussels, a school with links to La Monnaie
and to Maurice Béjart
's Ballet of the XXth Century. She has said that the percussionist and her music teacher at MUDRA, Fernand Schirren(Fernand Schirren ), was a major influence on her. In 1981, she attended the Tisch School of the Arts
at New York University
. While at the Tisch she presented her first production, Asch (1980), in Brussels. In 1982 upon her return from the U.S.A. she created Fase , four movements to the music of Steve Reich
. It was this production that brought her "a breakthrough on the international dance scene, performing, among other places, at the Avignon Festival".
The success of Fase contributed largely to the foundation of the company Rosas in 1983. Rosas danst Rosas - Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's first choreography for the young company to new compositions of Thierry De Mey
and Peter Vermeersch
- brought Rosas the international breakthrough as a company. During the eighties, Rosas was supported by Kaaitheater of Brussels (director Hugo De Greef). Within the framework of Kaaitheater, her oeuvre took shape. Performances such as Elena's Aria (1984), Bartók/Aantekeningen (1986), a staging of Heiner Müller's triptych Verkommenes Ufer/Medeamaterial Landschaft mit Argonauten (1987), Mikrokosmos-Monument Selbstporträt mit Reich und Riley (und Chopin ist auch dabei)/In zart fliessender Bewegung - Quatuor Nr.4, (1987), Ottone, Ottone (1988), Stella (1990) and Achterland (1990) were produced in collaboration with Kaaitheater.
In 1992, La Monnaie
's general director Bernard Foccroulle invited Rosas to become the resident company of Brussels' Royal Opera De Munt/La Monnaie. At the start of the residency, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker set herself three objectives: to intensify the relation between dance and music, to build a repertory, and to launch a dance school (after the disappearance of MUDRA from Brussels in 1988). That year, Rosas created ERTS and released Rosa - a film of a choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker to Bartók music directed by Peter Greenaway
. Later that year, Rosas created Mozart Concert Arias, un moto di gioia for the Avignon Festival. A production made in collaboration with the Orchestre des Champs Elysées, directed by Philippe Herreweghe. In 1993, Rosas created Toccata, to the music of J.S. Bach, for the Holland Festival. In May 1994, the KunstenFESTIVALdes Arts in Brussels premièred Kinok, produced in collaboration with Thierry De Mey
and the Ictus Ensemble
. At the end of 1994, this collaboration resulted into a new creation: Amor Constante más allá de la muerte. In November 1995, La Monnaie premièred Verklärte Nacht, a choreography that was part of a production of Schönberg
music Erwartung/Verklärte Nacht.
In 1995, Rosas and La Monnaie launched in Brussels a new international school for contemporary dance. P.A.R.T.S. - Performing Arts Research & Training Studios, where sixty students coming from some 25 countries are trained, over a three year period, by more than 50 teachers.
In December 1996, Woud, three movements to the music of Berg
, Schönberg & Wagner
was premièred in Seville. At the beginning of 1997, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created, together with Steve Paxton and The Wooster Group, 3 solos for Vincent Dunoyer. In November 1997, Just Before, to a live performance by the Ictus Ensemble of music composed by Magnus Lindberg
, John Cage
, Iannis Xenakis
, Steve Reich, Pierre Bartholomée and Thierry De Mey, was presented in La Monnaie. In February 1998, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker made her debut as an opera director at La Monnaie with Bartók's
Duke Bluebeard's Castle. In August 1998, the Impuls Festival in Vienna premièred Drumming, a production to Steve Reich's composition of the same name. In November Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created The Lisbon Piece, for the Portuguese Companhia Nacional de Bailado: her first experience as a guest choreographer. In March 1999, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created, together with Rosas dancer Cynthia Loemij and Jolente De Keersmaeker and Frank Vercruyssen from the theatre company STAN, Quartett; a dance-theatre performance based on the text by Heiner Müller
. One month later, she choreographed and danced a duet with Elizabeth Corbett for the production with/for/by. In May 1999, Rosas premiered I said I, a collaboration with Jolente De Keersmaeker for the direction, with the Ictus Ensemble, Aka Moon
and DJ Grazzhoppa for the music composition and execution. Jan Joris Lamers designed the set and lighting and Dries van Noten
the costumes. For In Real Time in 2000, Rosas again collaborated with Stan, as well as with the jazz-ensemble Aka Moon for the composition and live interpretation of the music.
In January 2001, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created Rain, another performance to a score by Steve Reich
, his Music for 18 Musicians.
2002 saw the celebration of twenty years of Rosas and ten years of residence at La Monnaie, with the re-run of the text-pieces, the creation of (but if a look should) April me and Rain live, the two latter accompanied by Brussels contemporary music ensemble Ictus. A 336 pages book Rosas, if and only if wonder was published and a multimedia exhibition was organised in newly opened halls at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels
, and was attended by over 15,000 people. Once, a solo to the music of Joan Baez, concluded the celebration year's performances.
2003 showed yet a new evolution: whereas in the past her choreographies had been very precise and closely linked to the music, in Bitches Brew / Tacoma Narrows, De Keersmaeker for the first time allowed improvisation by her dancers during the performance.
Over the past years, Rosas has also revived several earlier pieces: Rosas danst Rosas, Fase , Mikrokosmos, Achterland and others. Rosas' productions have been invited by theatres and festivals across five continents.
for her career and at this occasion presented one of her seminal work Rosas danst Rosas (1983).
The film Hoppla! was awarded a Sole d'Oro in Italy and the Grand Prix Vidéo Danse in Sète (1989). The film Rosa has been distinguished by a Dance Screen Award, got a Special Jury Commendation in the Black and White Short Film Competition at the Film Festival in Cork and was selected for the 49th Mostra Interazionale d'Arte Cinematografica in Venice (1992). In 1994 in Lyon a Dance Screen Award was offered to the film Achterland (1994), while the film Rosas danst Rosas obtained the Grand Prix International Vidéo Danse in 1997 and the special prize of the Jury of the International Festival of Film and New Media on Art in Athens in 1998. In 2000, the short film Tippeke got the Grand Prix Carina Ari of the Festival International Media Dance in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Furthermore, in June 1995, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel
. In March 1996 the government of the province of Antwerp awarded her the Eugène Baie prize, and in May 2000 she was awarded by the French Republic the "Officier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" title. In 2002 she received the annual award of the Gabriella Moortgat Stichting and la médaille de Vermeil from the City of Paris and a medal ('Erepenning') of the belgian flemish government. In 2004 she was awarded the "Keizer Karelprijs" by the province of Oost Vlaanderen. In 2008, she became - again in France - "Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres".
Mechelen
Mechelen Footnote: Mechelen became known in English as 'Mechlin' from which the adjective 'Mechlinian' is derived...
, Belgium, grew up in Wemmel) is one of the most prominent choreographers in contemporary dance
Contemporary dance
Contemporary dance is a genre of concert dance that employs compositional philosophy, rather than choreography, to guide unchoreographed movement...
. The dance company constructed around her, Rosas, was in residence at La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
from 1992 to 2007.
Biography
De Keersmaker did not study dance until her last year of high school, instead studying music, specifically the flute. She studied from 1978 to 1980 at MudraMudra
A mudrā is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers...
in Brussels, a school with links to La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
and to Maurice Béjart
Maurice Béjart
Maurice Béjart was a French born, Swiss choreographer who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He was the son of the French philosopher Gaston Berger.- Biography :...
's Ballet of the XXth Century. She has said that the percussionist and her music teacher at MUDRA, Fernand Schirren(Fernand Schirren ), was a major influence on her. In 1981, she attended the Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. While at the Tisch she presented her first production, Asch (1980), in Brussels. In 1982 upon her return from the U.S.A. she created Fase , four movements to the music of Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
. It was this production that brought her "a breakthrough on the international dance scene, performing, among other places, at the Avignon Festival".
The success of Fase contributed largely to the foundation of the company Rosas in 1983. Rosas danst Rosas - Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's first choreography for the young company to new compositions of Thierry De Mey
Thierry De Mey
Thierre De Mey is a musician and filmmaker from Belgium.-Biography:After studying film at the IAD, he continued to studying music composition and contemporary dance after meeting Fernand Schirren, for whose works he has written original incidental music...
and Peter Vermeersch
Peter Vermeersch
Peter Vermeersch is a Belgian composer, clarinet player and producer.He is a main character in several Belgian bands such as X-Legged Sally, A Group and the Flat Earth Society...
- brought Rosas the international breakthrough as a company. During the eighties, Rosas was supported by Kaaitheater of Brussels (director Hugo De Greef). Within the framework of Kaaitheater, her oeuvre took shape. Performances such as Elena's Aria (1984), Bartók/Aantekeningen (1986), a staging of Heiner Müller's triptych Verkommenes Ufer/Medeamaterial Landschaft mit Argonauten (1987), Mikrokosmos-Monument Selbstporträt mit Reich und Riley (und Chopin ist auch dabei)/In zart fliessender Bewegung - Quatuor Nr.4, (1987), Ottone, Ottone (1988), Stella (1990) and Achterland (1990) were produced in collaboration with Kaaitheater.
In 1992, La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
's general director Bernard Foccroulle invited Rosas to become the resident company of Brussels' Royal Opera De Munt/La Monnaie. At the start of the residency, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker set herself three objectives: to intensify the relation between dance and music, to build a repertory, and to launch a dance school (after the disappearance of MUDRA from Brussels in 1988). That year, Rosas created ERTS and released Rosa - a film of a choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker to Bartók music directed by Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, CBE is a British film director. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular...
. Later that year, Rosas created Mozart Concert Arias, un moto di gioia for the Avignon Festival. A production made in collaboration with the Orchestre des Champs Elysées, directed by Philippe Herreweghe. In 1993, Rosas created Toccata, to the music of J.S. Bach, for the Holland Festival. In May 1994, the KunstenFESTIVALdes Arts in Brussels premièred Kinok, produced in collaboration with Thierry De Mey
Thierry De Mey
Thierre De Mey is a musician and filmmaker from Belgium.-Biography:After studying film at the IAD, he continued to studying music composition and contemporary dance after meeting Fernand Schirren, for whose works he has written original incidental music...
and the Ictus Ensemble
Ictus Ensemble
Ictus Ensemble is a Belgian orchestra, founded by Jean-Luc Plouvierin 1994, specialising in Contemporary classical music...
. At the end of 1994, this collaboration resulted into a new creation: Amor Constante más allá de la muerte. In November 1995, La Monnaie premièred Verklärte Nacht, a choreography that was part of a production of Schönberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
music Erwartung/Verklärte Nacht.
In 1995, Rosas and La Monnaie launched in Brussels a new international school for contemporary dance. P.A.R.T.S. - Performing Arts Research & Training Studios, where sixty students coming from some 25 countries are trained, over a three year period, by more than 50 teachers.
In December 1996, Woud, three movements to the music of Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, Schönberg & Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
was premièred in Seville. At the beginning of 1997, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created, together with Steve Paxton and The Wooster Group, 3 solos for Vincent Dunoyer. In November 1997, Just Before, to a live performance by the Ictus Ensemble of music composed by Magnus Lindberg
Magnus Lindberg
Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He is currently the composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.-Education:...
, John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
, Steve Reich, Pierre Bartholomée and Thierry De Mey, was presented in La Monnaie. In February 1998, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker made her debut as an opera director at La Monnaie with Bartók's
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
Duke Bluebeard's Castle. In August 1998, the Impuls Festival in Vienna premièred Drumming, a production to Steve Reich's composition of the same name. In November Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created The Lisbon Piece, for the Portuguese Companhia Nacional de Bailado: her first experience as a guest choreographer. In March 1999, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created, together with Rosas dancer Cynthia Loemij and Jolente De Keersmaeker and Frank Vercruyssen from the theatre company STAN, Quartett; a dance-theatre performance based on the text by Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller
Heiner Müller was a German dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. Described as "the theatre's greatest living poet" since Samuel Beckett, Müller is arguably the most important German dramatist of the 20th century after Bertolt Brecht...
. One month later, she choreographed and danced a duet with Elizabeth Corbett for the production with/for/by. In May 1999, Rosas premiered I said I, a collaboration with Jolente De Keersmaeker for the direction, with the Ictus Ensemble, Aka Moon
Aka Moon
Aka Moon is a Belgian avant-garde jazz band. Saxophonist Fabrizio Cassol, bassist Michel Hatzigeorgiou, and drummer Stéphane Galland are the founding members of the core trio...
and DJ Grazzhoppa for the music composition and execution. Jan Joris Lamers designed the set and lighting and Dries van Noten
Dries van Noten
Dries Van Noten is a Belgian fashion designer and an eponymous fashion brand. In 2005, the New York Times described him "one of fashion's most cerebral designers"...
the costumes. For In Real Time in 2000, Rosas again collaborated with Stan, as well as with the jazz-ensemble Aka Moon for the composition and live interpretation of the music.
In January 2001, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker created Rain, another performance to a score by Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
, his Music for 18 Musicians.
2002 saw the celebration of twenty years of Rosas and ten years of residence at La Monnaie, with the re-run of the text-pieces, the creation of (but if a look should) April me and Rain live, the two latter accompanied by Brussels contemporary music ensemble Ictus. A 336 pages book Rosas, if and only if wonder was published and a multimedia exhibition was organised in newly opened halls at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels
Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels
The Paleis voor Schone Kunsten or Palais des Beaux-Arts is cultural venue in Brussels, Belgium. Often referred to as "Bozar" or "PSK", construction was completed in 1928 and includes exhibition and conference rooms, movie theater and concert hall which serves as home to the National Orchestra of...
, and was attended by over 15,000 people. Once, a solo to the music of Joan Baez, concluded the celebration year's performances.
2003 showed yet a new evolution: whereas in the past her choreographies had been very precise and closely linked to the music, in Bitches Brew / Tacoma Narrows, De Keersmaeker for the first time allowed improvisation by her dancers during the performance.
Over the past years, Rosas has also revived several earlier pieces: Rosas danst Rosas, Fase , Mikrokosmos, Achterland and others. Rosas' productions have been invited by theatres and festivals across five continents.
Awards
Both the performances and the films of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker have been distinguished by various international awards. Rosas danst Rosas won the Bessie Award (1988), Mikrokosmos received a Japanese Dance Award for the best foreign production (1989), Stella got the London Dance and Performances Award (1989), Drumming was prized with the Golden Laurel Wreath for the best choreography in Sarajevo (October 1998). In 2011, she received the American Dance Festival AwardAmerican Dance Festival
The American Dance Festival is a six and four-week school for dance and a six-week summer festival of modern dance performances, currently held at Duke University and the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina....
for her career and at this occasion presented one of her seminal work Rosas danst Rosas (1983).
The film Hoppla! was awarded a Sole d'Oro in Italy and the Grand Prix Vidéo Danse in Sète (1989). The film Rosa has been distinguished by a Dance Screen Award, got a Special Jury Commendation in the Black and White Short Film Competition at the Film Festival in Cork and was selected for the 49th Mostra Interazionale d'Arte Cinematografica in Venice (1992). In 1994 in Lyon a Dance Screen Award was offered to the film Achterland (1994), while the film Rosas danst Rosas obtained the Grand Prix International Vidéo Danse in 1997 and the special prize of the Jury of the International Festival of Film and New Media on Art in Athens in 1998. In 2000, the short film Tippeke got the Grand Prix Carina Ari of the Festival International Media Dance in Boulogne-Billancourt.
Furthermore, in June 1995, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is a Flemish university located in Brussels, Belgium. It has two campuses referred to as Etterbeek and Jette.The university's name is sometimes abbreviated by "VUB" or translated to "Free University of Brussels"...
. In March 1996 the government of the province of Antwerp awarded her the Eugène Baie prize, and in May 2000 she was awarded by the French Republic the "Officier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" title. In 2002 she received the annual award of the Gabriella Moortgat Stichting and la médaille de Vermeil from the City of Paris and a medal ('Erepenning') of the belgian flemish government. In 2004 she was awarded the "Keizer Karelprijs" by the province of Oost Vlaanderen. In 2008, she became - again in France - "Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres".
Choreographies
- Cesena (2011)
- En atendant (2010)
- 3Abschied (2010)
- The Song (2009)
- Zeitung (2008)
- Keeping Still (2007)
- Steve Reich Evening (2007)
- Bartók / Beethoven / Schönberg Repertory Evening II (2006)
- D'un soir un jour (2006)
- Raga for the Rainy Season / A Love Supreme (2005)
- Desh (2005)
- Kassandra - speaking in twelve voices (2004)
- Bitches Brew / Tacoma Narrows (2003), to Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
' eponymous album - Once (2002), to Joan Baez in Concert, Part 2Joan Baez in Concert, Part 2Joan Baez in Concert, Part 2 was a second installment of live material, recorded during Baez' concert tours of early 1963. It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.-History:...
- Repertory Evening I (2002)
- (But If a Look Should) April Me (2002)
- small hands (out of the lie of no) (2001)
- Rain (2001)
- In Real Time (2000)
- I said I (1999)
- With/for/by (1999)
- Quartett (1999)
- Drumming (1998)
- Mikrokosmos / Quattuor (1997)
- Just Before (1997)
- 3 Solos for Vincent Dunoyer (1997)
- Woud, three movements to the music of Berg, Schönberg & Wagner (1996)
- Erwartung/Verklärte Nacht (1995)
- Amor constante, más allá de la muerte (1994)
- Kinok (1994)
- Toccata (1993)
- Mozart/Concert Aria's. Un moto di gioia (1992)
- Erts (1992)
- Achterland (1990)
- Stella (1990)
- Ottone Ottone (1988)
- Mikrokosmos (1987)
- Verkommenes Ufer/Medeamaterial/Landschaft mit Argonauten (1987)
- Bartók/Aantekeningen (1986)
- Elena's Aria (1984)
- Rosas danst Rosas (1983)
- Fase , four movements to the music of Steve Reich (1982)
- Asch (1980)
Choreographies for other companies than Rosas
- The Lisbon Piece (for the Portuguese Companhia Nacional de Bailado)
Opera Directions
- Duke Blue-beard's castle (music by Béla BartókBéla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
) (1998) - I due Foscari (music by Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
) (2003) - Hanjo (music by Toshio HosokawaToshio Hosokawais a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:Hosokawa studied with Yun Isang at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 1998, Hosokawa has served as Composer-in-Residence at the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, Hosokawa became a guest professor at Tokyo College of Music...
) (2004)
External links
- Rosas.be: Biography
- Rosas, Bal Moderne and Dancing Kids!
- Review of Rosas' performance of de Keersmaeker's Once by Ann Williams, 19 October 2003