ARCHIVES 2011 / Fase

With over 160 performances in the world – some of them in 1983 at the Festival d'Avignon –, Fase is considered a major piece in the history of contemporary dance. Conceived from the youthful works of Steve Reich, the show is composed of four distinct movements: Piano Phase, Come Out, Violin Phase and Clapping Music, each having been written after the eponymous pieces of the American composer. The work is comprised of three duets and a solo. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker works them based on simple movements – walking, turning around and swinging one's arms – organised according to elementary geometric constructions: a straight line, a diagonal and a circle. As a timekeeper of space and time, she choreographically expresses Steven Reich's musical composition principles, that is, the tireless use of a few motifs. The extreme formalism of the movement, its speed and repetitiveness create a hypnotic fascination in the spectator. An entire territory of impressions opens between the gesture's synchronization and difference in phase. A rigorously choreographed score, Fase nonetheless remains a playful work of subdued beauty. “This piece is a wonderful example of the way that an emotion can appear when an abstract idea is incorporated”, stresses Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, who will dance this piece herself for Avignon. Nearly 30 years after its premiere, Fase continues to demonstrate the expressive possibilities of a dance stripped of any artifice, reduced to its essential elements: the body, space, rhythm.

MF