WHAT THE BODY DOES NOT REMEMBER

(1987 / 2013)

Back to the late 80s: the stunning first attempt by young choreographer Wim Vandekeybus decisively confirmed, in 1987, the emergence of a ‘Flemish Wave’ in the world of theatre and dance. De Keersmaeker, Fabre, Decorte, Needcompany, Vandekeybus: they had little in common, apart from presenting the tension of a restless body in a way that transformed the codes of stage presence. ‘The Belgians are the masters of the body’, a Dutch critic wrote at the time. And Anna Kisselgoff, in the New York Times, praised What the Body and spoke of a ‘revolution in dance’.

What the body does not remember is neither Eden nor virginity: rather, it is the moment that cannot be repeated, the event that only happens once, the forced choice made in seconds when facing the gravest danger. Risk and constraint were the key words for the young choreographer, stoked white hot by his musician and adviser Thierry De Mey, former champion of Go and great strategist. Bodies throw themselves one on top of the other, twist on the floor, throw bricks toward the skies which their partners narrowly avoid, and risk being crushed by boots kicking hard. The male/female relationships are breathless, sexual, violent. It’s all fast and controlled to the tiniest detail. Composers Thierry De Mey and Peter Vermeersch, whose music once accompanied Anne Teresa De Keermaeker’s first steps, here continue to explore the resources of a dissonant, metallic minimalism, inspired by the works of Louis Andriessen. Vandekeybus would receive a Bessie Award for this ‘brutal confrontation of dance and music: the dangerous, combative landscape of What the Body Does Not Remember’.

With a rejuvenated team of dancers, 11 musicians of the period and the percussive instrumentarium of the great days of Thierry De Mey (sawn up piano frames, paper drums, lithophones, etc.), 25 years later we will rediscover everything that made this a landmark show.

A potted history

The Belgian sextet Maximalist! formed in 1983 around Thierry De Mey and Peter Vermeersch, when Anne Teresa De Keermaeker danced her first shows. When Vandekeybus, in 1990, fused together his first two shows (What the Body Does Not Remember, 1987, and Les Porteuses de Mauvaises Nouvelles – The Bringers of Bad News, 1989) into a single entity, The Weight of a Hand, the group expanded and added Georges-Elie Octors as its conductor. This small ensemble would be the template for Ictus, which has played under this name since 1994.