Drumming (1998)
Event
Drumming (1998) is one of the most iconic choreographies by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, written for an eponymous, minimalist percussion score by Steve Reich. The music starts with a single rhythmic motif, which then multiplies and unfolds in into a cornucopia of textures, including drums, woodwinds, brass and vocals. Reich ramps up the technique already used in a previous composition, Piano Phase: through minor tempo accelerations, the musicians undo the synchrony almost imperceptibly, resulting in an endless exchange of canons. In dance, the choreographic complexity was devised in a similar fashion: a single sequence of movements serves as the foundation for an infinite number of variations across time and space. When the music stops and the bodies come to a halt, the audience realises what they have witnessed: a wave of pure dance and pure sound, a vortex of vital energy.
