Il Cemento Della’Armonia e Della’Inventione is the name of a dance piece, which was created by a Belgian world-famous Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and in Marrakech-born and Belgium-based her former student Radouan Mriziga! It was also inspired and supported by a French baroque musician Amandine Beyer! So we have Rosas (De Keersmaeker’s creation) and its partners, which and who made it a reality, based on the famous four seasons of Antonio Vivaldi’s music from the 18th century!
Photo: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker © Wikipedia Commons
I used to dance contemporary dances and have a special love for De Keersmaeker’s work! But this time it was more than just a dance piece! It was a combination of rhythms, music, silence, contemporary stage setting, even the costumes, some of them were inspired by dark paintings of Breughel! A colorful stenography on the stage of La Monnaie/De Munt Theatre, where Anne Teresa was a choreographer in residence in late 80s and beginning of 90s!
La Monnaie / De Munt © photo Yelena van Kharitonova
But what can this 18th century piece of the known music describing the course of the seasons say about the state of the world and nature nowadays? What can dance, an art form essentially departing from the human body, say about matters that transcend that body, about the most pressing issues of today, such as the frightening state of the climate and the world! What the stage such as this theatre space can offer and play-that of reflection, of comfort or of hope? The two above-mentioned choreographers are set to work on those questions, using their starting point: The Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi, one of the most iconic, used and abused pieces and a cast of four male dances within a quasi empty space!
Anne Teresa is a one of the most known choreographers, who studied n Brussels and New York and has 40 years of the professional experiences, working internationally! In her work she synthesizes different traditions, which were used by dancers such as Pina Bausch and Trisha Brown, she created Rosas, a dance company and PARTS, a dance school! De Keersmaeker, meanwhile, is 65 years old and has worked with several generation of dancers and just loves co-creations! She is constantly awarded internationally by countries and is a known activist for culture in Belgium!
La Monnaie / De Munt © photo Yelena van Kharitonova
So De Keersmaeker and Mriziga share a lot of interests in nature, craftsmanship, spirituality, philosophy, mathematics and architecture! But from different perspectives: the eastern and the western ones! And yet they decided to experiment and put together this dance piece!
However, it’s precisely in choosing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons that both choreographers had to step outside their comfort zones in their own way! These four seasons are a group of four concertos for violin and orchestra, where each dancer presents a season, changing one after the other, projecting snow, storm, rain, sunshine via the mimics of sounds! After all, nature is not only beautiful, but also harsh and dangerous, which is projected in this dance!
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