Dance
The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Pavel Kolesnikov / Rosas
German Premiere
World Premiere: 26.8.2019, Wiener Festwochen
Video Trailer © Rosas
Repetition and variance – these are the parameters that unite the four decades-long creative work of choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and the composition by Johann Sebastian Bach.
In “The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988”, choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and pianist Pavel Kolesnikov explore Bach’s late work, which transcends the limits of musical themes in a revel of variations, canons and fugues. Based on a calm, simple melody that is connected to an underlying bass line, a sound cosmos unfolds and reveals itself in extraordinary variety and unparalleled complexity.
The music, comprising of an introductory aria and 30 variations, poses a complex challenge to the choreography to find a form of dance at once adaptable and flexible enough to preserve its unalterable core. The large-scale orchestration of “The Six Brandenburg Concertos“ – a previous work of De Keersmaekers’ to the music of Bach – is now reduced to a solo performance danced by the choreographer herself. She applies the same principle of the score for the choreography: direct communication with the musicians and a rigorously structured frame. What emerges is a dance concert that allows both music and dance to have a voice of their own, but also combines them in harmony.
As part of MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues
Cast
Choreography Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Music Johann Sebastian Bach, “The Goldberg Variations”, BWV 988
Piano Pavel Kolesnikov
Musical Collaboration Alain Franco
Choreographic Assistance Diane Madden
Set and Lighting Design Minna Tiikkainen
Production Rosas. Co-production Wiener Festwochen, Concertgebouw, Brugge, La Monnaie / De Munt, Théâtre de la Ville – Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam / Julidans, Sadler’s Wells , London, Montpellier Danse
This production is realised with the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, in collaboration with Casa Kafka Pictures Tax Shelter empowered by Belfius