Fase, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Royal Opera House

Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels brings the exacting Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker to the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House with Fase, set to a score by the American minimalist Steve Reich.

Fase premiered in 1982 and was de Keersmaeker's very first performance. Originally danced by de Keersmaeker herself, she has since passed it on to new dancers, most recently Laura Bachman and Soa Ratsifandrihana, who will perform at the Linbury Theatre.

Fase is divided into four sections: Piano Phase, Move On, Violin Phase and Clapping Music. Except for Violin Phase, which is a solo, the sections feature both dancers, and one of the fascinating things about this work is how the choreographer follows the minimal variations of the music, adding a third visual dimension to the sound.

Minimal movements are coupled with rhythmic variations and the two dancers move, almost imperceptibly, from perfect synchronicity to gradually out of synch, back to perfect synchronicity again. In Piano Phase, the dancers wearing A-line dresses and de Keersmaeker's trademark trainers move against a grey background, lit in such a way that the shadows they project give the impression of a group of five dancers. Lighting design is by Remon Fromont.

Move On features one of de Keersmaeker's staples, the chair, on which the dancers perform syncopated everyday movements set against a loop of voices recorded during a Harlem riot.

The solo Violin Phase is based on the geometry of a circle. Finally, in Clapping Music the dancers bring an element of break-dance to de Keersmaeker's exacting choreography.

Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker divides audiences with her uncompromising minimalism. She has a devoted following throughout Europe: the 2019 performance of Fase in Berlin led one critic to describe it as 'epically physical dance.'

Read our interview with Van Cleef & Arpels here.

A film of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker's work, Rosas danst Rosas, directed by Thierry de Mey will be screened at the Linbury Theatre on 14th March at 18:00. Details here