Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione

“Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione” is the latest work by Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, created together with the Moroccan choreographer Radouan Mriziga. The musical foundation is Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, a huge hit of Baroque music that can also be read as an ode to nature. This is the point of departure for the choreographers’ interest: They regard the relationship between human beings and nature – and its concomitant changes – with great concern. Do we even still have four seasons in these climes?

“Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione” combines numerous threads of dance and music to form a unique language of movement. The piece sets out to return to the core of the compositions and to the associations and emotions that it evokes. At the same time, the dance underlines the fact that a strong contemplative component can be found in the “Four Seasons”, inviting us to an inner meditation and conversion. 

Choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker is renowned far beyond Belgium and Europe. She studied dance in Brussels and New York and choreographed her first piece, “Asch” in 1980. In 1983, she founded the company Rosas in Brussels. Since that time, the company has created groundbreaking pieces that are distinguished by a profound exploration of the relationship between dance and music, and that have been presented worldwide. From 1992 to 2007, Rosas was affiliated with the opera house La Monnaie / De Munt in Brussels, where Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker staged operas and large-scale ensemble pieces that have been frequently performed by other companies around the world. In co-operation with the Brussels opera, she founded P.A.R.T.S. in 1995, an institution in the international education for artists, where Belgium-based Moroccan choreographer Radouan Mriziga also studied. He and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker already worked together on the production “3ird5 @ W9rk” in 2020 – and now they are developing “Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione” together. Both artists regard the recording of the “Four Seasons” by Amandine Beyer, a long-standing musical partner of Rosas, and her ensemble Gli Incogniti as the basis for their choreography.