anne teresa de keersmaeker's once - Walker Art Center

NEWS
Press Contact: Rachel Joyce 612.375.7635 rachel.joyce@walkerart.org
Online Press Room: http://press.walkerart.org
WALKER ART CENTER PRESENTS DANCE SEASON
HIGHLIGHT: ANNE TERESA DE KEERSMAEKER’S ONCE
SEDUCTIVE SOLO DANCE IS SET TO JOAN BAEZ IN CONCERT, PART 2
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Photo: Gerard Ulferas
“A freshness, strength, and edginess that confirm her place at the forefront of
innovative European dance performance.” —Dance Theatre Journal
Minneapolis, November 11, 2005—Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De
Keersmaeker is deservedly regarded as one of the most important talents
to emerge in Europe in the last two decades. Since the early 1980s, her
particular genius has been the creation of refreshingly original contributions
to contemporary dance that are intricately refined, inherently edgy, and
always extraordinary. Her last Minnesota appearance was 1999’s brilliantly
physical Drumming, based on the composition by Steve Reich and
performed with her company Rosas (company-in-residence of Brussels’
Royal Opera De Munt/Theatre La Monnais). Once, her first-ever solo
performance, will be seen in the United States only in Minneapolis and
New York. This special presentation, performed Thursday–Saturday,
December 1–3, at 8 pm in the Walker Art Center’s William and Nadine
McGuire Theater, is a rare opportunity to see a precise, evocative, and
deeply felt performance by a woman who has changed the face of dance
on two continents.
In 1967, De Keersmaeker (Rosas) was given the LP Joan Baez in Concert,
Part 2. Though she didn’t understand the lyrics as a child, she was moved
by the delicate melodies and haunting voice of the singer. De
Keersmaeker’s tour-de-force solo imbues Baez’s original Vietnam-era
antiwar message with new power in this time of global conflict. Set to the
album in its entirety, the work juxtaposes the insurgent poetry of the lyrics
with the seductive austerity of contemporary European dance. The result is
a tender, lovingly choreographed clash of pure motion and emotion.
De Keersmaeker (born in 1960 in Mechelen, raised in Wemmel) studied
from 1978 to 1980 at MUDRA in Brussels, the school linked to La Monnaie
and to Maurice Béjart's Ballet of the XXth Century. In 1981, she attended
ANNE TERESA DE KEERSMAEKER’S ONCE NO. 110 1

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Photo: Herman Sorgeloos
the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. Meanwhile, she presented her
first production, Asch (1980), in Brussels. On her return from the U.S. in
1982, she created Fase, four movements to the music of Steve Reich, which
was immediately invited by various international festivals.
The success of Fase contributed largely to the foundation of the company
Rosas in 1983. Rosas danst Rosas—De Keersmaeker's first choreography
for the young company to new compositions of Thierry De Mey and Peter
Vermeersch—resulted in Rosas’ international breakthrough was supported
by Kaaitheater of Brussels (director Hugo De Greef). Within the framework
of Kaaitheater, De Keersmaeker’s oeuvre took shape with works including
Elena's Aria (1984); Bartók/Aantekeningen (1986); a staging of Heiner
Müller's triptych Verkommenes Ufer/Medeamaterial Landschaft mit
Argonauten (1987); Mikrokosmos-Monument Selbstporträt mit Reich und
Riley (und Chopin ist auch dabei)/In zart fliessender Bewegung - Quatuor
Nr.4, (1987); Ottone, Ottone (1988); Stella (1990); and Achterland (1990)
produced in collaboration with Kaaitheater.
In 1992, La Monnaie's general director Bernard Foccroulle invited Rosas to
become the resident company of Brussels' Royal Opera De Munt/La
Monnaie. De Keersmaeker’s three residency objectives were to intensify
the relation between dance and music, to build a repertoire, and to launch
a dance school (after the disappearance of MUDRA from Brussels in 1988).
In 1995, Rosas and La Monnaie launched in Brussels a new international
school for contemporary dance. P.A.R.T.S.—Performing Arts Research &
Training Studios, where students from some 25 countries are trained, over
a three-year period.
Both the performances and the films of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker have
been distinguished by various international awards. Rosas danst Rosas won
the Bessie Award (1988), Mikrokosmos received a Japanese Dance Award
for the best foreign production (1989), Stella got the London Dance and
Performances Award (1989), Drumming was prized with the Golden Laurel
Wreath for the best choreography in Sarajevo (October 1998). The film
Hoppla! was awarded a Sole d'Oro in Italy and the Grand Prix Vidéo Danse
in Sète (1989). The film Rosa has been distinguished by a Dance Screen
Award, received a Special Jury Commendation in the Black and White
Short Film Competition at the Film Festival in Cork and was selected for the
49th Mostra Interazionale d'Arte Cinematografica in Venice (1992). In 1994
in Lyon a Dance Screen Award was offered to the film Achterland (1994),
while the film Rosas danst Rosas obtained the Grand Prix International
Vidéo Danse in 1997 and the special prize of the Jury of the International
Festival of Film and New Media on Art in Athens in 1998. In 2000, the short
film Tippeke received the Grand Prix Carina Ari of the Festival International
Media Dance in Boulogne-Billancourt. Furthermore, in June 1995, De
Keersmaeker received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa at the VUB
(Flemish University in Brussels). In March 1996 the government of the
province of Antwerp awarded her the Eugène Baie prize, and in May 2000
she was awarded by the French Republic the Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et
des Lettres title. In 2002 she received the annual award of the Gabriella
ANNE TERESA DE KEERSMAEKER’S ONCE NO. 110 2

Moortgat Stichting and la médaille de Vermeil from the City of Paris and a
medal ('Erepenning') of the Belgian Flemish government. In 2004 she was
awarded the "Keizer Karelprijs" from the province of Oost Vlaanderen.
Tickets to Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Once are $25 ($20 Walker
members) and are available by contacting the Walker Art Center box office
at 612.375.7600 or walkerart.org/tickets.
The Walker Art Center's Performing Arts Program is generously supported
by funds from the Doris Duke Charitable Dance Foundation through the
Doris Duke Fund for Jazz and the Doris Duke Performing Arts Endowment
Fund.
Walker Art Center programming is made possible by its Premier Partners:
Best Buy, General Mills, Target, Star Tribune, and WCCO-TV.
The Walker Art Center is located at 1750 Hennepin Avenue—where Hennepin meets
Lyndale—one block off Highways I-94 and I-394, Minneapolis.
For public information, call 612.375.7600, or visit walkerart.org.
ANNE TERESA DE KEERSMAEKER’S ONCE NO. 110 3