Rosas Review

Rosas Danst Rosas Review

Rosas Danst Rosas is choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaker and performed by the dance

company Rosas. It was first premiered in 1983 and the filmed version in 1997. The themes seen in

the dance touches upon human behaviours and rage. The starting point to the dance came from the

idea of ‘The Human vs The Abstract’. It looks on everyday expressions, flirtations, longing and frustration. It shows a strong music and dance relationship.
The structure is in 8 sections, in the

filmed version of the dance there are 18 dancers and in the stage there are 4. Dance styles seen in
the dance consist of; Pedestrian movements, gestures, minimalistic, abstract, mechanical, the

dancers have a low centre of gravity; the dance is also concerned with relationships whilst

maintaining dancer to dancer independence. The choreographic style of the dance highlights single

parts of the body drawing attention to small human gestures. The movements are patterned and

structured to create rhythms and perfect unison is achieved between all dancers. The music was

created by Thierry De May (also the director of the film) and Peter Vermersh. The Aural settings are

Electronic, percussive and minimalistic. There is also the use of natural sounds of the dancers

breathing and using body percussion to create beats and rhythms. Physical settings see the dancers

costumes as drab and everyday wear. They wear grey skirts and tops with black leggings, socks and

shoes. The clothes are loose fitting and functional to move in. All the dancers wear the same so it

gives an institutional and formal uniform look to all of the dancers. The lighting is natural lighting as

it comes in through the windows of the building the dance is set in. The dance takes place in the

corridors and rooms of an empty old school building, meaning that is why the lighting is natural

and comes through the windows of the building. Props seen in the dance are chairs which are seen

in section 3 of the dance. The staging of the dance is that it is site specific where it takes place in the

school building meaning that the dance was created specifically at an adapted location other than a

standard theatre. Looking at a specific section, section 3 sees the chair section. You can see action

movement components such as; High release, heavy breathing, whipping hair, and pedestrian

movements such as looking at each other, and adjusting clothes. When they adjust their clothes they move their tops on and off their shoulder and pull them as if to show that they are frustrated. The dancers are seen using the choreographic device of repetition which can be seen in the movement of clutching their hands and wrists and throwing their arms to the side of their bodies and bending their body over their knees to again show frustration and rage which is a main theme to this dance.The dynamics to the dance are sharp and precise creating perfect unison and the use of accumulative cannon as a choreographic device. Aurally the music is quite electronic and repetitive there is the use of breathing and body percussion from the dancers which also creates an extra dynamic to the dance and a more realistic and intimate approach to the dance for film. The camera shots used in this section are; Close ups, over the shoulder shots, wide shots, medium shots, and angles from behind and the sides of the dancers. I like the way the shots and the filming of this dance has been created as the filming for camera shows exactly what the director wants to see, as sometimes when you watch a performance live at a theatre you miss parts of the dance as you personally focus your attention to one person or one part of the stage at a time. The use of the different camera shots and angles enables you to experience and extra and different dimension to the piece as you can hear the dancers breathe which you would not be able to hear from watching dancers on stage from an audience. The different choreographic devices used in the dance I feel creates great interest as the use of fragmentation creates different versions and variations of original motif and creates a high impact atmosphere which reflects the frustrated theme and energy of the dancers.