Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Jean-Guihen Queyras Mitten wir im Leben sind
Bach6Cellosuiten

Bach’s Cello Suites have always been there, lurking in the back of her mind. In order to set about tackling this masterpiece of instrumental music, performed onstage in their entirety by Jean-Guihen Queyras, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker has composed a solo for each suite - bringing out all their nuances of light and dark, depth and lightness. The resulting blend, in which she herself plays an intercessory role, is a deft one indeed, and provides the perfect complement to the vibrating strings.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suites constitute a milestone in the history of Western music. Indeed, the intellectual and structural impetus of this work, driven by its rhythmic vitality and the fluidity of its melodic lines, has never ceased to amaze. Here, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, who has already shown us the particular affinity she has with the world of Bach, deepens her search for a form of choreographic writing which captures the very essence of the composer’s language. In this piece, the cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras, three male dancers and two female dancers - one of which is De Keersmaeker herself - bring the score to life. The latter is summoned up in all its various dimensions, and it is either distilled, defied or put into perspective by the choreography. Onstage a geometric schema is traced out either in colours or pentagrams, giving rise to a seemingly infinite array of interwinding circles and spirals. Contrary to standard practice in concerts, the cellist is not sat facing the audience but changes his position on the stage with each new Suite. As the piece progress, the spiral becomes larger and larger, and the pentagrams become wider and wider, each Suite offering a new perspective on the physical presence of the musician and the dancer. Embracing music with dance in this fascinating manner brings to the forefront not just the individual character of the six Suites, but also their cohesion as an ensemble project.