Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Rosas in EXIT ABOVE

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s EXIT ABOVE is nominally about the act of walking, but the actuality is rather different…

Rosas in EXIT ABOVE. © Anne Van Aerschot

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Meskerem Mees, Jean-Marie Aerts, Carlos Garbin / Rosas
EXIT ABOVE
★★★★✰
London, Sadler’s Wells
12 November 2024
www.rosas.be
www.sadlerswells.com

All the marketing about Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s EXIT ABOVE says it’s about walking. Walking together, walking alone - walking as the backdrop to life. But really, that’s just tosh - there is walking, but it seems peripheral to a much broader theatrical world and the carefree surreal joy we see on stage.

The full title of De Keersmaeker’s latest work, unveiled last year and currently touring widely across Europe, is “EXIT ABOVE, after the tempest / d’après la tempête / naar de storm”. And we do start with a storm/tempest, realised as a good old-fashioned coup de théâtre of billowing fabrics, consuming the whole stage, above a much buffeted individual staggering beneath. A little prelude to a proper, orderly life, I guess.

Another handle on the show comes from the full creative billing, which is always given as “Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Meskerem Mees, Jean-Marie Aerts, Carlos Garbin / Rosas”. EXIT ABOVE uses not just the Rosas dancers, but an integral part of the staging is the singing of diminutive Meskerem Mees and the playing of guitarist (and Rosas dancer) Carlos Garbin - they are very much part of the movement action. Musically, they start with Robert Johnson’s Walking Blues, but beyond that, the soundscape is primarily custom-composed by Mees and Jean-Marie Aerts, and all three musicians have done a terrific job. All this puts the soundscape more to the fore than usual and makes for a magical night because Meskerem Mees’ singing (against Garbin’s delicate guitar) is angelic perfection - do check her out.

So what’s going on with the dancing? Well, early on, we do get some purposeful walking from the twelve dancers, advancing towards us and suddenly stopping to glare or gurn inanely. But overall, my recollection is of extravagantly natural and playful movement - not the polished movement of professionals (which they are, of course) but the freedom of movement apparently unencumbered by any responsibility - like a beach party late at night when everybody has had a good drink and is swirling around the campfire. At other times, dancers get a solo or duet, etc, and in a section where we seemed to be in the soundscape of a tropical forest, I loved what appeared to be an elaborate courtship ritual. Another time, a short bit of hip-hop from Solal Mariotte surprisingly jumped out of nowhere, effortlessly presented - you wanted more. Some social dance creeps in among the gleeful falling, jumping, skipping, hopping and sudden playful reversals that make me smile.

EXIT ABOVE runs for 90 minutes straight through, and while great, that is its full length, and I don’t see why there could not be an interval. But there are so many dance nuggets here, and the pacing keeps it fresh, as does the singing and staging generally. It feels to me much more a celebration of life and community than ever walking, but whatever it is, it’s good!