EXIT ABOVE at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“When the show reaches its climax, the performers let it all out and enter a superbly choreographed frenzy”

For those knowledgeable in the dance scene, the name Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, who’s been choreographing since 1980, is more than familiar: it signifies a whole principle that explores dance in its simplest form, which is none other than walking. In this exquisite performance, De Keersmaeker’s company, Rosas, take it a step further and seek to redefine dance, its source and what instigates it.

At first, there is a recreation of the tempest, evoked resourcefully by using an enormous see-through sheet and a fan, and a dancer that moves like they’re caught in it. Before long, the rest of the company joins and embarks on this journey of walking, moving and dancing in any way imaginable. Patterns are repeated, new shapes introduced and there is an interesting balance between group sequences and individual ones, without ever losing the sense of the collective and the company working together.

One of the aspects of dance that the audience are invited to consider is what we can dance to. Is it strictly a very specific type of composed music or can it be more than that? ‘Exit Above’ shows that there is no such limit and if dance can be created from simply walking, then what accompanies movement can be anything we want: acoustic guitar, songs, complex instrumental beats, bird sounds, even silence.

This show is the musicians’ as much as it is the dancers’, with Meskerem Mees, Jean-Marie Aerts, Carlos Garbin providing their respective experience and style to create an intriguing set of music that incorporates electronic beats, vocals and blues. Mees and Garbin not only are performing the music live onstage, but also participate in most of the sequences alongside the rest of the performers, creating a living organism in front of our very eyes. Mees’ voice fills the theatre with an eerie and haunting tingle that accompanies Garbin’s exceptional playing beautifully.

There is no set, except for the instruments used by the musicians, the parts used to create the tempest in the beginning and a set of colourful stripes taped on the floor (scenography by Michel François). The stripes overlap, creating different shapes and angles, and match the performers’ outfits (costume design by Aouatif Boulaich), which keep changing and evolving, like the show itself does. It’s a visual feast of shirts added, skirts shared, tops removed, even thrown towards the audience.

In terms of lighting (light design by Max Adams), for the most part of the show it’s kept quite simple, with parts of the backstage being visible. A single, wide spotlight occasionally moves around the stage in a circle, accompanying the path paved by the dancers themselves, like a gravitational force.

When the show reaches its climax, the performers let it all out and enter a superbly choreographed frenzy, though, at times, it feels like chaos takes over and the inventiveness diminishes due to overused repetition.

Without a doubt, this is an extraordinary collaboration that gave birth to a piece unlike any other. Even if the lack of tangible meaning may trouble members of the audience that are unfamiliar with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s work, the show’s variety of pace, movement quality and tone, as well as its daring nature make it a must-see for all.

EXIT ABOVE at Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 13th November 2024

by Stephanie Christodoulidou

Photography by Anne Van Aerschot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

ΑΓΡΙΜΙ (FAUVE) | ★★★ | October 2024

STORIES – THE TAP DANCE SENSATION | ★★★★★ | October 2024

FRONTIERS: CHOREOGRAPHERS OF CANADA | ★★★★ | October 2024

TUTU | ★★★ | October 2024

CARMEN | ★★★★ | July 2024

THE OPERA LOCOS | ★★★★ | May 2024

ASSEMBLY HALL | ★★★★★ | March 2024

AUTOBIOGRAPHY (v95 and v96) | ★★★ | March 2024

NELKEN | ★★★★★ | February 2024

LOVETRAIN2020 | ★★★★ | November 2023

EXIT ABOVE

EXIT ABOVE

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