Rosas Danst Rosas Review

Rosas Danst Rosas was originally choreographed in 1983 by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. It was performed by 4 dancers from the Rosas company. In the 1997 film, which was directed by Thierry De Mey, there were 18 dancers, including Anne herself. 

The film is set in an abandoned school in Belgium, this makes the film site specific. The dancers, all women, perform in the empty classrooms and corridors. Their costumes are grey over sized shirts with black skirts, this makes it seem like a uniform which relates to the school setting. The costumes are dull and shapeless and this reminds me of something you would expect to wear in a prison or mental health institute. 

Repetitive, minimalist, pedestrian and abstract styles are frequent throughout the entire 1 hour 40 minute film (the stage version was only 8 minutes long). This is a signature style for Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and the Rosas company, as a year before Rosas Danst Rosas debuted, Anne choreographed another dance called Fase, which was praised for its repetitive and minimalist movements. The dance is split up into 8 sections, Moving In, Floor, Chairs, Building, Glass, Lying Down, Inner Court and Coda. However, I will be focusing on only 4 sections, Floor, Chairs, Glass and. 

The key actions in the Floor section are roll, push up, arch, fall, breathing in and out and fragmentation. It begins with an establishing shot of four of the women standing with their backs to the camera. You can hear their footsteps as they each run through the corridor to the window, this is effective as its it creates quite an intense atmosphere. It is filmed behind a window frame and as it pans it look as if someone is eerily watching them move. 

The dancers stay still for a moment, then suddenly all drop to the floor in unison. There is no music so you hear them all crash and this causes quite an impact. The camera changes to a close up of the dancers on the floor. they roll, push up and contract all in unison. You can hear them all breathing which adds to the intensity I mentioned before. This whole section is 8 minutes long. At the start of the piece is very slow but the movements suddenly become very fast. I think the use of extremes of speed was made very effective with the use of close ups as this built up the tension. There was then a long moment of stillness which created suspense before the dancers sped up again.