Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker / Rosas
SAND/ENCORE 1ÉTÉ
Nineteenth-century writers were sometimes “seers”, if not also visionaries. In 1872, when Fontainebleau was threatened by major projects of deforestation, George Sand took up her pen to defend this natural monument. Her plea turned out to be a tragically prophetic environmental manifesto: a century before the work of the Club de Rome, Sand predicted with astonishing precision the excesses of capitalism and the realities of climate change – the destruction of the ozone layer, the disappearance of forests, even soil desertification.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker was struck by the topicality of this text written 150 years ago, and yet more timely than ever: as with George Sand, understanding how to become one with nature is fundamental for the choreographer. From the four elements (fire, water, air, earth and metal) to Fibonacci spirals (present in minerals, plants, or the cosmos) and the murmuring of birds, her work tirelessly seeks to translate the processes of the natural world and extend them in space and time.
To give voice and body to George Sand’s text, De Keersmaeker has extended an invitation to performer Synne Elve Enoksen. Their first artistic encounter dates back to Somnia (2019), which took place in the forest of Gaasbeek, and continued with the ‘forest’ of images making up the Louvre museum in Forêt (2022). In Fontainebleau, they will renew their collaboration, still concerned with deforestation. In Sand/Encore 1Été, Synne Elve Enoksen and Némo Flouret invite us to join them on a choreographic stroll dotted with contrasts: between the liveliness of the text and the slowness of the walking pace, between the long periods of time proper to nature and the urgency of the climate situation.
Sand/Encore 1Eté
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker / Rosas
Performed by
Synne Elve Enoksen, Némo Flouret
Text and Research
Thomas Bîrzan, Tessa Hall
Coaching
Jolente De Keersmaeker, Némo Flouret
Text based on George Sand, “La forêt de Fontainebleau”, published in Le temps, November 13, 1872
Friday June 2, 2 PM
Saturday June 3, 1:30 PM
Saturday June 3, 5 PM
Sunday June 4, 12:00 PM
Sunday June 4, 4:30 PM
Château → cour de la Fontaine
Friday June 2, 3 PM
Saturday June 3, 2:30 PM
Saturday June 3, 4 PM
Sunday June 4, 1 PM
Sunday June 4, 3:30 MM
Château → galerie François 1er
With the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
Deeply attached to the world of dance since its beginnings, the Maison reaffirms its commitment with Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels. Guided by the values of creation, transmission, and education, this program’s mission is to support artists and institutions in the dissemination of choreographic heritage, while nourishing contemporary creation. Since its launch in 2020, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels has supported numerous dance companies in the creation of their works, as well as numerous performances on the international scene. The initiative is strengthened each year by major events, such as the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels festival, whose first edition was held in London in March 2022. This support also extends to awareness-raising actions to choreographic culture addressed to all audiences, professionals or amateurs.
dancereflections-vancleefarpels.com
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, born in 1960 in Mechelen, is a Belgian dancer and choreographer. She studied dance at the Mudra school in Brussels and at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. In 1980, she created her first choreography, Asch, at the Nieuwe Workshop in Brussels. In 1982, she debuted Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich at the Théâtre de la Bourse (Beursschouwburg) in Brussels, a piece immediately recognized worldwide as a major contribution to contemporary dance and still one one of the choreographer’s most emblematic pieces of work. In 1983, during the creation of Rosas danst Rosas at the Théâtre de la Balsamine in Brussels, De Keersmaeker founded the Rosas company, in conjunction with the P.A.R.T.S. school, with the mission to lead the choreographic art towards an inscription of movement in space and time, by associating other compositional forces such as music, geometry, and visual or textual arts. De Keersmaeker is engaged in research on movement and its articulations, placing the relationship between movement and music at the heart of her work. Between 1992 and 2007, the Rosas company was hosted in residence at the La Monnaie/De Munt Theater in Brussels, during which De Keersmaeker conducted several operas and ensemble pieces. In 2020, she began working on a series of choreographic pieces designed for the museum space, notably for the Kolumba (2020), Fondation Beyeler (2021), Louvre-Lens (2021) and Neue Nationalgalerie (2022). In 2022, Rosas and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker presented Forêt, a new work created specifically for the Louvre.
