© Anne Van Aerschot
EXIT ABOVE - after the tempest
EXIT ABOVE is an encounter of walking as original movement and the blues as the origin of music
STUK with 30CC
For EXIT ABOVE, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker retraces her steps: to the roots of dance, and the roots of Western pop music. Since her earliest work, ‘my walking is my dancing’ is one of her guiding principles: walking as a primary form of movement, so familiar to us that we rarely reflect on it. Also in terms of the music, De Keersmaeker embarks on a journey towards a starting point that is in fact an intersection: the roots of pop music, the blues, and its mysterious ‘blue notes,’ in-between zones, between major and minor, between sorrow and joy. The starting point for the performance is the song Walking Blues by legendary blues artist Robert Johnson; even though the journey leads back to Der Wanderer by Schubert, the best known singer-songwriter of the 19th Century. Meskerem Mees, a young Flemish singer songwriter with Ethiopian roots, composed a series of variations, permutations, and other adaptations of 'walking songs’. She did this together with Jean-Marie Aerts, sound architect of the legendary Belgian 80s rock formation TC Matic,, and with dancer and guitarist Carlos Garbin.
In EXIT ABOVE, walking as primal motion and the blues as musical source meet. De Keersmaeker’s choreography always moves from simple movement material towards spatial and physical complexity, using precise geometrical patterns. EXIT ABOVE explores the tension between marching together and stepping out, between romantic solitary ‘wandern’ (wandering) and the political potential of a group of unarmed people walking together, the individual and the collective, the line and the circle. The act of walking challenges the hegemony of functionality and efficiency. It is an effort that produces nothing beyond the passing of time and the crossing of space. Yet, walking also generates thoughts and reminiscences, revealing that our inner world is a landscape often best explored on foot.
CREDITS
Choreography Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker Created with and Danced by Abigail Aleksander, Jean Pierre Buré, Lav Crnčević, José Paulo dos Santos, Rafa Galdino, Carlos Garbin, Nina Godderis, Solal Mariotte, Meskerem Mees, Mariana Miranda, Ariadna Navarrete Valverde, Cintia Sebők, Jacob Storer (danced by Robson Ledesma) Music Meskerem Mees, Jean-Marie Aerts, Carlos Garbin Music performed by Meskerem Mees, Carlos Garbin Scenography Michel François Light Design Max Adams Costume Design Aouatif Boulaich Text and Lyrics Meskerem Mees, Wannes Gyselinck Opening Text Walter Benjamin Über den Begriff der Geschichte, Thèse IX Dramaturgy Wannes Gyselinck Rehearsal Directors Boštjan Antončič, Cynthia Loemij, Clinton Stringer Artistic Coordination and Planning Anne Van Aerschot Assistant to the Artistic Director Martine Lange Tour Manager Daniel Demoustier Technical Director Thomas Verachtert Technicians Pieter Kint, Inès Maes, Tom Theunis, Arno Truyens Sound Alex Fostier Costume Coördinator Alexandra Verschueren Assisted by Els Van Buggenhout Wardrobe Chiara Mazzarolo Sewing Chiara Mazzarolo, Martha Verleyen Production Rosas Co-production Concertgebouw Brugge (Bruges), De Munt / La Monnaie (Brussels), Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Le théâtre Garonne (Toulouse), GIE FONDOC OCCITANIE (Le Parvis Tarbes, Scène nationale ALBI Tarn, Le Cratère Alès, Scène nationale Grand Narbonne, Théâtre Garonne) Acknowledgements Baptiste Alexandre, Naomie Bentein, Bert De Swert, Michel Dierickx, Steven Fillet, Nicolas Fiszman, Ann-Sofie Merlier, Miet Ongena, Tom Pauwels, Jean-Luc Plouvier, Olivier Thys, Emma Zune World Premiere May 31, 2023, Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, Brussels presented by Théâtre National Wallonie- Bruxelles, De Munt/ La Monnaie, Kaaitheater and Kunstenfestivaldesarts
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
This production is realized with the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, in collaboration with Casa Kafka Pictures
Rosas is supported by the Flemish Community and the Flemish Community Commission (VGC)
