Exit Above
After the Tempest / D’après la Tempête / Naar de Storm
choreography Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
music Meskerem Mees, Jean-Marie Aerts, Carlos Garbin
dancers Abigail Aleksander, Jean Pierre Buré, Lav Crnčević, José Paulo dos Santos, Rafa Galdino, Nina Godderis, Solal Mariotte, Mariana Miranda, Ariadna Navarrete Valverde, Cintia Sebők (danced by Margarida Marques Ramalhete), Jacob Storer
musicians Meskerem Mees, Carlos Garbin
scenography Michel François
lighting Max Adams • costumes Aouatif Boulaich
Sadler's Wells, London • 12-13.Nov.24 ★★★★
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Belgian dance company Rosas brings this show to the UK for the first time. The approach is refreshingly offbeat, creating a loose atmosphere that often feels improvised but actually involves complex layers of movement tracing elaborate geometric patterns on the stage. This tone shifts and evolves throughout the performance, intertwining music and movement to create a powerfully visceral catharsis.
The first to take to the fully deconstructed stage are guitarist Carlos Garbin and vocalist Meskerem Mees, both of whom participate in the dance numbers as well. To an engulfing soundscape, Mees recites the words of philosopher Walter Benjamin, exploring the nature of history and the storm that is progress. Then a single dancer throws himself into the air and back to the floor in spiralling gymnastic moves, while a shimmering curtain wafts overhead.
From here, the show surges through an expansive series of dance styles, with performers on their own, in pairs or as one. The demanding choreography is expressive and broad, drawing on huge physicality as the seriously gifted dancers spin, jump, lift, balance or stand silent and still. But mostly they are walking ever forward, tightly connected to each other and the music. Accompanying this is Garbin's guitar, which cycles through a series of blues numbers that are sung by the angelic Mees, shifting the mood from pulsing rhythms to searingly pure tones.
With lights positioned far above, the shadow of the rigging is projected onto the walls, creating an elemental space that's augmented by some lighting trickery. A spotlight traces slow circles around the stage, which is covered in geometric lines. The dancers echo the light's movement, creating a kind of counter-clockwise whirlpool. All of this is exploring the idea of everyday movement, walking ahead regardless of what's happening in our lives. It may feel a bit meandering, but there's also a strong sense of both individuality and community. And in the later scenes, as dancers fling off clothing in abandon, their connection grows powerfully strong, leading to a series of stunning final sequences.
photos by Anne Van Aerschot • 12.Nov.24
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