GHOST TRANCE MUSIC / ROSAS TOOLBOX Rosas Toolbox meets Braxton Scores
On the occasion of the 17th edition of The Brussels Days, organised by the Brussels Regional government, MACBA will host two showings of this performative action based on Anthony Braxton’s composition Ghost Trance Music. Musicians from Belgium’s Ictus Ensemble and dancers from Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s company Rosas work in an unusual experimental context around the idea of the “toolbox”.
Both Anthony Braxton’s scores and De Keersmaeker’s way of working can be understood as a toolbox: in Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music, performers can select and overlay different sub-compositions, improvise and surprise each other. The music is also different with every performance. Ghost Trance is a unique platform where musicians come together from a variety of backgrounds, a space where each individual’s input determines the course and common experience of the performance. Thus, the traditional hierarchy between composer, score, conductor and performer is undermined. This whole group of works is inspired by indigenous ghost dance rituals, where different tribes would come together to contact their ancestors through hour-long circle dances.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s “Rosas Toolbox”, in the making since 2022, does not passively archive the company’s work, but rather develops a concept of creative documentation – an inventory of the choreographic lexicon developed by De Keersmaeker and Rosas, the formal tools used, the recurring processes of combination, etc. – and makes it available to everyone, so that it can be experienced in the present. Neither artist aims to temper human energies, to rationalise our relationship to art or to create rigid categories, but instead to inspire human creativity through combinatorial strategies.
Inventing provisional categories, mapping them out, giving them metaphorical or playful names, connecting them to each other, testing new operations, and finally using them as a kind of zodiac to interpret the present – this is the great game shared by both artists.
A new project presented by KANAL Centre Pompidou as part of The Brussels Days, celebrating its 17th Edition in Barcelona and Madrid, after having taken place in Milan, New York, Paris, Berlin and London, among other cities. Organised jointly by hub.brussels, brussels.International and visit.brussels, The Brussels Days aim to position the Brussels-Capital Region on the international stage, create top-level networking opportunities with local companies and authorities, and promote its dynamic economy, know-how, local creators, cultural wealth, gastronomy, tourism and MICE potential.
Credits
- Music: Anthony Braxton
- Based on choreographic material by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
- Musical Director: Kobe Van Cauwenberghe
- Creative Movement Team: Marie Goudot, Michaël Pomero, Sophia Dinkel, Mark Lorimer
- Rosas Dancers: Sophia Dinkel, Marie Goudot, Mark Lorimer, Michaël Pomero
- Ictus Musicians: Nabou Claerhout (Trombone), Niels Van Heertum (Euphonium), Kobe Van Cauwenberghe (Electric Guitar), Jean-Luc Plouvier (Keyboard), Lucas Messler (Percussion)
- Local Music: Sarah Claman (Violin)
Registration can also be done at the museum, before the start of the activity, and is subject to the availability of spaces. If you have any question, feel free to contact us on 93 481 33 68 or by email at macba [at] macba [dot] cat.
