“Cesena”, choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, is a beautiful mélange of light, dance, and music. This is not to say that I wasn’t confused throughout much of the piece. In fact, compared to during “A (micro) history of economics, danced”, I was more frustrated at times because I didn’t understand what was happening. However, after reflecting with the help of the NYTimes article and BAMBill, I was better able to admire the talent and appreciate all the thought that went into this performance.
Light was definitely a powerful component in this dance. The stage started off pitch black with only a dim light in the center and progressively got brighter. It is interesting to note that De Keersmaeker created En Atendant, a compliment to Cesena, which gets darker throughout the piece. She also chose to portray the transition from the Middle Ages to Renaissance, which I thought was very fitting. The physical darkness represents the Dark Ages as the Middle Ages is sometimes called and the brightness a revival or rebirth of culture.
She also intended these pieces to be performed in natural light outdoors, starting at dusk or dawn. This would be a very different experience because they wouldn’t be able to adjust the lighting, as done when someone in the back yelled that they couldn’t see the movements. At the time, I was somewhat glad that they turned the lights up. Like some of my classmates, I had been squinting to see what the dancers were doing. The person in front of me was looking through his binoculars, the people behind me were whispering how they couldn’t see, and many people actually left. Looking back, I think the beginning was meant to be a more auditory experience, hearing them singing and listening to the rustles of the movements. The big picture was slowly revealed with the gradual addition of light.
I was also amazed by the combination of dance and music. According to the NYTimes article, de Keersmaeker wanted all the dancers singing and singers dancing. This was really apparent to me when the stage was bright and I realized that everyone on stage could not only dance, but sing as well. I felt the vocalizations were synchronized with the lighting. The piece started with one dancer vocalizing and more people joined in until everyone was singing the end. These dancers had so much stamina as they were able to alternate between dancing and singing and continue this medieval music for the two hour performance. There was also great acoustics, accentuating the melody and filling the theater with surround sound.
De Keersmaeker also wanted to go back to the raw material, concreteness, and the body. There was something very natural about how the dancers leaped, ran across the stage or threw themselves on the floor. She also mentions how important time and space are and describes her piece as an “a cappella composition not only with the voice, but also with movement”. The dancers were definitely very aware of their surroundings and their voices and movements, although different, worked together in harmony. Overall, I am satisfied with the way De Keersmaeker choreographed these seemingly random parts into a very insightful performance.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s “Cesena”, the first dance performance I’ve seen of such a great magnitude, was a visually striking and acoustically riveting experience. Whether the scene involved a collection of symbolic movements that I could decipher or a confusing bunch of steps, like Erica, I was nonetheless amazed at the talent both the singers and dancers displayed. That being said, De Keersmaeker’s piece did not enthrall me entirely. Oftentimes, I was left wondering what had just happened on the stage. Although my inexperience with dance as a whole forbids me to adequately evaluate her piece, I can say that this performance was significantly better than Pascal Rambert’s “A (micro)history of economics, danced” in terms of visual appeal, sound and sustenance. A few key qualities from this performance stayed with me after it ended, like the themes, use of light and color and the singing.
The themes involving religion, life and communication were very complex and interesting in this piece. The juxtaposition of the image of dancers help up in the shape of a crucifix and the sight of dancers writhing on the floor in pain was an interesting choice by the choreographer. It suggests a close relationship between religion and death. After further research, I discovered the meaning of the title “Cesena”. Being the name of a city in which a massacre took place during the time of the Papal Schism. The proximity of the two themes, with the historical context in mind, suggests that the bloodbath was very religiously motivated. This seems to be a statement on the truth the interaction of war and religion and how people suffer instead of those involved. Communication between dancers also spoke volumes. The interactions between the many dancers on stage were composed of very natural movements. This leads back to De Keersmaeker’s background as a dancer. This type of movement made the piece flow very well while emphasizing the gravity of the unnatural movements associated with death and crucifixion.
The use of light and color was also very interesting in “Cesena”. Like Erica, the beginning was unpleasant because of the lack of visual acuity the darkness of the stage allowed the audience. However, I thought it was a good choice because it seemed like it was a night scene, or a foreboding darkness. The hint of impending malevolence was fulfilled, but in the presence of light, which I interpreted as a misdirection, much like many were misdirected by religion at that time. Color also played a huge role. Black and white were the main colors of the stage, but later in the performance, many performers began to wear more colors. Although I’m not quite sure why this was done, the bright colors gave me a sense of happiness as opposed to the painful movements performed before. The dancing also looked more serene and natural after the costume change, signifying an end to the chaos.
The singing was a pleasant surprise in this piece. I didn’t expect dance to incorporate a capella singing as it was used in this piece. Although off-putting at first, the tribal yells quickly evolved into hymns that sound much like Gregorian chants. This, too, gave the piece a very religion feel to it. When I realized that the singers were also dancers, I was blown away. This made me more keen to see the rest of the performance.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker was a great (almost) introduction to the the world of experimental dance. It incorporated many qualities of contemporary dance in a very unique and refreshing way. The amazing sound, themes and visuals were not overshadowed by the lack of clarity at times, and that in and of itself was more than I expected. Overall, the performance was incredibly enjoyable and highly recommended even to those who have not seen such a unique dance performance.
Although I do not claim to understand the ideas and beauty of every movement within Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s “Cesena”, I will say that I thought the overall piece was choreographed beautifully. Like Erica, I did have to look at the NYTimes preview and the BAMBill to make the full connections of the dance choices to the ideas behind the performance. I wouldn’t say I was necessarily confused during the piece because I focused more on the dancers, their style and their singing rather than what Keersmaeker was trying to convey to us.
The most obvious factor of this piece was the adjustment of light. From the man running around the chalk circle in almost complete darkness in the beginning to the gradual brightening of the stage as the spread of dancers who laid on the floor rose up, this play of light added a sense of curiosity and serenity to the piece. As Donna said after the performance, I actually thought the darkness was calming and made the piece so much better because it had a sense of watching movement in the dark as if you were at the beach at night and you saw the outlines of people moving around further from you. I still cannot believe the woman screamed to turn on the light…yes, it did get a bit hard to see after more than half an hour of watching the performance in the dark, but it brought such a halt to my focus of the dance that I would have honestly rather continue squinting than have the lights turned on.
One of my favorite parts of the dance was parallel style of the piece. Keersmaeker included parts where the singers, who were separated into two rows on the opposite sides of the stage, would follow a conductor on each side. She also had dancers move in pairs around the smearing chalk circle, as well as single dancers that were later joined by a partner who danced similarly with the first dancer. I thought the two women in the black dresses who danced opposite one another around the circle were beautiful; the way the spun so freely and loosely made their bodies seem like it was just moving to the music.
A few of my favorite bits of the dance included the way some of the dancers rolled on their ankle as they moved, the circular style of some of the dances, and the singing that tied together the entire dance. I noticed that the two women in the black dresses were the first to do the ankle rolling movement – as they spun around and moved opposite one another, both of them would roll of their ankles to move their bodies from a bent angle to reach higher up into the air. I also liked the idea of the circle smearing throughout the duration of the performance – it was as if the dancers left their marks along each part of their dance.
Even though I might not have appreciated the dance as much as Professor Uchizono did, I did see and think about each of the qualities she mentioned when she told us why she loved the piece. I might not have been as moved by the performance as her but I did find the stunned and somewhat wondering feeling that the piece left on me beautiful.
-Winnie Yu (Blog A)