EXIT ABOVE after the tempest

For EXIT ABOVE, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker retraces her steps: to the roots of dance, the roots of Western pop music. Since her earliest work, ‘my walking is my dancing’ is one of her guiding principles: walking as a primary form of movement, so familiar that we hardly stop to think about it. Also in terms of the music, De Keersmaeker embarks on a journey towards a starting point that is in fact an intersection: the roots of pop music, the blues, and its mysterious ‘blue notes,’ in-between zones, between major and minor, sorrow and joy. The starting point for the performance is the song Walking Blues by legendary blues artist Robert Johnson; even though the journey leads back to Der Wanderer by Schubert, the best known singer-songwriter of the 19th Century. Meskerem Mees, an upcoming Flemish singer songwriter with Ethiopian roots, will compose a series of variations, permutations, and other adaptations of 'walking songs,’ together with Jean-Marie Aerts, sound architect of TC Matic, the legendary Belgian 80s rock formation around singer Arno, and with dancer and guitarist Carlos Garbin.

In EXIT ABOVE, walking as primal motion and the blues as musical source meet. Choreographically, De Keersmaeker always moves from organically opening up simple movement material toward spatial and physical complexity, using precise geometrical patterns. EXIT ABOVE explores the tension between marching together and stepping out, between romantic solitary ‘wandern’ (wandering) and the political potential of a group of unarmed people walking together, the individual and the collective, the line and the circle. The act of walking runs counter to the hegemony of functionality and efficiency. It is an effort that produces nothing aside from the passing of time and the crossing of space. However, walking also generates thoughts and reminiscences that reveal the extent to which our inner world is also a landscape – a landscape that can often only be traversed on foot.

Première
Coréalisation La Monnaie, Kaaitheater, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

31.05, 02, 03, 07, 09, 10, 11.06 – introduction · en
01 & 08.06.2023 – introduction · fr, nl
07.06.2023 – discussion after the show

Cast

Choreography
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Created with and Danced by
Abigail Aleksander
Jean Pierre Buré
Lav Crnčević
José Paulo dos Santos
Rafa Galdino
Carlos Garbin
Nina Godderis
Solal Mariotte
Meskerem Mees
Mariana Miranda
Ariadna Navarrete Valverde
Cintia Sebők
Jacob Storer

Music
Meskerem Mees
Jean-Marie Aerts
Carlos Garbin

Music performed by
Meskerem Mees
Carlos Garbin

Text and Lyrics
Meskerem Mees
Wannes Gyselinck

Dramaturgy
Wannes Gyselinck

Scenography
Michel François

Light design
Max Adams

Costume design
Aouatif Boulaich

Rehearsal Directors
Cynthia Loemij
Clinton Stringer

Artistic Coordination and Planning
Anne Van Aerschot

Assistant to the Artistic Director
Martine Lange

Tour Managers
Bert De Bock
Jolijn Talpe

Technical Director
Freek Boey

Assistant Technical Director
Jonathan Maes

Technicians
Jan Balfoort
Jonathan Maes
Quentin Maes
Thibault Rottiers

Sound
Antoine Delagoutte
Alex Fostier

Costume Coördinator ad interim
Emma Zune
assisted by Els Van Buggenhout

Wardrobe
Els Van Buggenhout
Emma Zune

Sewing
Chiara Mazzarolo
Martha Verleyen

Production
Rosas

Coproduction
Concertgebouw Brugge (Bruges), De Munt / La Monnaie (Brussel / Bruxelles / Brussels), Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Le théâtre Garonne (Toulouse), GIE FONDOC OCCITANIE (Le Parvis Tarbes, Scène nationale ALBI Tarn, Le Cratère Alès, Scène nationale Grand Narbonne, Théâtre Garonne)

Acknowledgements
Baptiste Alexandre, Naomie Bentein, Bert De Swert, Michel Dierickx, Steven Fillet, Nicolas Fiszman, Ann-Sofie Merlier, Miet Ongena, Tom Pauwels, Jean-Luc Plouvier, Olivier Thys, Alexandra Verschueren

World Premiere
May 31, 2023, Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, Brussels
presented by Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, De Munt/ La Monnaie, 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 – Belfius.
Rosas is supported by the Flemish Community, the Flemish Community Commission (VGC), and by the BNP Paribas Foundation.