EXIT ABOVE after the tempest
My walking is my dancing – is one of the guiding principles of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.
For “EXIT ABOVE”, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker retraces her steps: to the roots of dance, the roots of Western pop music. In “EXIT ABOVE”, walking as primal motion and the blues as musical source meet. The starting point for the performance is the song “Walking Blues” by legendary blues artist Robert Johnson from here the musical arc stretches to Schubert’s “Der Wanderer”. On this basis, the musical trio of the performance – consisting of the singer Meskerem Mees, the rock musician Jean-Marie Aerts and the dancer and guitarist Carlos Garbin – create an irresistible sequence of melodies that get your feet taping.
Together with her ensemble of world-class dancers, De Keersmaeker explores the tension between romantic, solitary wandering and walking together in a group, between the individual and the collective, the line and the circle. As is often the case in her choreographies, De Keersmaeker starts from the simplest, geometric movements, which expand into spatial and physical complexity in the moving rhythm of the “Wanderlieder”.
Choreography: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
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, Jacob Storer
Created with: 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
Music: Meskerem Mees, Jean-Marie Aerts, Carlos Garbin
Music performed by: Meskerem Mees, Carlos Garbin
Scenography: Michel François
Lighting design: Max Adams
Costume design: Aouatif Boulaich
Text and lyrics: Meskerem Mees, Wannes Gyselinck
Dramaturgy: Wannes Gyselinck
Rehearsal Directors: Cynthia Loemij, Clinton Stringer
Artistic Coordination and Planning: Anne Van Aerschot
Assistant to the Artistic Director: Martine Lange
Tour Manager: Marthe Delnaet
Technical Director: Freek Boey
Technical Coordination: Thomas Verachtert
Technicians: Calvin Ferdinando Carrier, Thibault Rottiers
Sound: Antoine Delagoutte
Costume Coordinator: Alexandra Verschueren
Costume Coordination Assistant: Els Van Buggenhout
Wardrobe: Chiara Mazzarolo
Sewing: Chiara Mazzarolo, Martha Verleyen
Production: Rosas
Co-production: Concertgebouw Brugge (Bruges), De Munt / La Monnaie (Brussel / Bruxelles / 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