A musical work where the dance march comes to life to the rhythm of the blues, “Exit Above” by the famous Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, interprets this movement practiced daily at the Théâtre de la Ville after a notable appearance at the Avignon Festival.
On the stage floor, large geometric lines of blue, purple, green or yellow intersect and form triangles and arcs in a large squiggle. After a successful presentation at the 2023 Avignon Festival, choreographer Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker continues to tour her show Exit Above at the Théâtre de la Ville from October 25 to 31.
Walk, freedom
Three dancers enter from a door at the back of the stage. An extract of On the concept of history by Walter Benjamin is recited, while a dancer launches into a solo in the middle of the stage which leaves full expression to his arms, a mixture of contemporary dance and voguing. He is accompanied by an acoustic guitar with delicate notes. “I go for a walk and I, oh me, I move forward“. The stage plunges into darkness. A transparent plastic tarpaulin of great lightness flies away. The scene is unreal, extraterrestrial. This fluid material, like plasma or water, dances above the performer under a incandescent light, to the rhythm of the wind.
A dancer from the company of choreographer and dancer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, “Rosas”, during the show “Exit Above” at the 77th Avignon Festival (CHRISTOPHE RAYNAUD DE LAGE)
Figures who had been observing the scene in the dark like ghosts enter, walking in unison. “I put my left foot in front of my right foot, in front of my left foot and I move forward“. The group of 13 dancers goes back and forth like models, and poses at the end of the catwalk with their eyes fixed on the audience. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker plays on the silences but also on the lines of the bodies and those left on the floor. ground. The dancers thus tread those which are traced on stage, as if they were the authors. However, the moments of walking continue at the risk of becoming repetitive, long and boring. The musical passages are catchy and let freedom burst forth dancers who let go. They let the music run through their bodies without restraint like tops let loose at full speed in light petticoats with futuristic inspirations.
Storm
The dances in the show express the emotions of everyday life, often repressed because of morals or social conventions. In Exit Above, these feelings are all-consuming, uncontrollable. Fury seizes the show. It’s the storm. “Revenge ! Let’s walk ! Let’s search, let’s burn, let’s set fire, let’s kill, let’s slaughter!“The light turns red, flames appear furtively in the dark. Frantic duels take place. And after the storm comes calm.
The pieces of music sung by Meskerem Mees, a composer and performer of Ethiopian origin with a golden voice, are so clear and true that they sound like a recorded tape. “There is in dance the desire to overcome gravity, to transform walking into running, not without the hope of flying away.“, said Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in an interview given at the Avignon Festival in January. A flight between dance and music which promises to seduce an already won over audience.
“Exit Above” from October 25 to 31 at the Théâtre de la Ville – Sarah Bernhardt, for the Festival d’Automne à Paris
#Anne #Teresa #Keersmaeker #defies #gravity #walking #dance #Exit #Théâtre #Ville
