Dancers in suits – in an airy style

“Counterpoints” is the name of the ballet evening in which the State Ballet presents three exquisite choreographies by Keersmaeker, Cunningham and van Manen, thus celebrating the diversity of dance.

Six light bulbs slowly float from the fixture’s loft. Then four string players take their places on the stage. They play Ludwig van Beethoven’s Great Fugue op.133—”an invitation to dance,” says Ann-Teresa de Kersmacker, who created her choreography in 1992. Seven dancers and a dancer in business suits translate the music into movement, jumping and rolling on stage, leaving Their arms fly wide, they run, they fall, they jump. Run, fall, jump. again and again. They use the whole space, both vertically and horizontally, dedicating themselves to the music as if their bodies were instruments in a polyphonic concert, where one desires sometimes more sharpness, even more precision – as one knows from Keersmaeker himself, with the earnestness charging each A small gesture with energy and meaning. Like the moment the dancer gently hits the ground with her hand. It’s a strong man’s play, with which it fits naturally, on an equal footing.

Changing the scene to the early ’80s: In Merce Cunningham’s “Duets,” the six couples, all dancing barefoot, were dressed in colorful aerobics-style dresses. Pas de deux is shown, where each couple has their own personality, which the dancers really absorbed. It’s pure aesthetics, rhythmic and straightforward like the electronic rhythm music of John Cage.