Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione

In Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Radouan Mriziga set out to explore Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. The starting point for this new choreographic work is the exquisite recording of Vivaldi’s composition by virtuosic violinist and long-time Rosas collaborator Amandine Beyer and her ensemble Gli Incogniti.

The Four Seasons is one of the most well-known, iconic and reproduced pieces of music; a veritable ‘hit’ of the classical repertoire. It is also a striking ode to nature. De Keersmaeker and Mriziga, who previously collaborated on 3ird5 @ W9rk (2020), share a keen interest in the observation of nature, geometry, and embodied abstraction. They also share a concern with our changing and increasingly troubling relationship to our natural environment. Contemplating the four seasons in nature by contemplating the nature of this musical composition not only inspires further explorations of patterns present in the natural world and celestial configurations as possible starting points for choreography, it also vividly brings to the surface the urgency of the impending climate crisis. Do we still have four seasons? In addition, Vivaldi wrote this music three hundred years ago in the Mediterranean, a region at the intersection of different continents. The Four Seasons thus also invites reflection on the circulations of knowledge, power, and histories this region represents.

In Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione, multiple strands come together to create a unique choreographic language. The piece aims to return to the core, the structure of Vivaldi’s famous composition and the many associations and emotions it evokes, while offering a choreographic counterpoint to it. At the same time the dance underscores that there may be something contemplative to be found in The Four Seasons, in its familiarity, and in the familiarity of nature.

More info

www.rosas.be

choreography Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Radouan Mriziga created with and Danced by Boštjan Antončič, Nassim Baddag, Lav Crnčević, José Paulo dos Santos music Antonio Vivaldi, Le quattro stagioni recording Amandine Beyer, Gli Incogniti Alpha Classics/Outhere Music 2015 musical analysis Amandine Beyer poems Asmaa Jama, ‘We, the salvage' Antonio Vivaldi, ‘Le quattro stagioni’set and light design Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Radouan Mriziga
costume design Aouatif Boulaich rehearsal director Eleni Ellada Damianou assistant to the Artistic Director Martine Lange artistic coordination and planning Anne Van Aerschot technical director Thomas Verachtert technicians Tom Theunis, Pieter Kint costume coördinator Veerle Van den Wouwer assisted by Chiara Mazzarolo en Els Van Buggenhout wardrobe Chiara Mazzarolo managing director Lies Martens distribution Frans Brood Productions transport Frank Verhagen production Rosas coproduction Berliner Festspiele, Charleroi danse - centre chorégraphique de Wallonie-Bruxelles, Concertgebouw Brugge, De Munt/La Monnaie (Brussels), Festival d'Automne à Paris, Festival de Marseille, ImPulsTanz (Vienna), Sadler's Wells (London), Théâtre de la Ville-Paris

première
May 11 2024, Rosas Performance Space, presented by De Munt , Kaaitheater and Kunstenfestivaldesarts
with the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
This production is realized with the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, in collaboration with Casa Kafka Pictures
Rosasis supported by the Flemish Community and the Flemish Community Commission (VGC)