Our partner Trax Magazine met with Steve Reich, a legend of contemporary music. The American composer muses about Drumming Live, which is currently playing at the Opéra Bastille, and on his collaboration with the choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker.

My pieces have often been reinterpreted by choreographers, but Anne Teresa is in my eyes the most remarkable of all. What she did with my music is a masterpiece… And the irony is I didn’t met her until 16 years after the premiere of Fase. At the time, she sent me a letter asking if she could work with certain musicians from my ensemble – they would be playing live while she danced. I said “okay”, and when they returned after the performance, they said to me “You really should see what she does, it’s amazing”. I finally got to see the piece in New York, when it was performed at The Kitchen. It was great, and with Drumming, I think she has developed her style even further. 

In the 1990s, when Anne Teresa performed Drumming, I was already approaching sixty, however, when I composed it, I was still a young man. When I saw her choreography, I realised that she had captured the essence of my music. When it could seem systematic and severe, Anne Teresa was able to bring out a romantic aspect. The dance steps, the interplay of motifs exposed the emotions which run through those pieces: sometimes there’s tension, sometimes there’s humour! The interpretation of Clapping Music in Fase even made me think of something from vaudeville. It’s a gift to be able to combine a formal, highly sophisticated, almost abstract dimension with a powerful psychological and dramatic character. It’s the tension between those two angles that brings greatness to her work. 

Drumming in my eyes is a composition that is extremely positive and exciting. I began learning percussion at the age of 14, after the piano, and I played in a few groups when I was in high school. I also helped to pay for my college tuition by performing in groups: that was my most meaningful experience of performance. Drumming has been an opportunity for me to create something in synch with what I really played, unlike Violin Phase or Piano Phase.

I travelled to Ghana, because, at the beginning of the 1960s I’d heard recordings of African music and read some transcriptions of Ghanaian percussions. You have to realise that historically, there’s no system of notation in Africa, so it was really something quite rare. The book in question was called Studies in African Music by Arthur Morris Jones, a British musicologist. For myself and other students, it was truly fascinating to see those rhythmic structures on paper… However, this wasn’t a discovery, in fact it was more the opposite! I suddenly realised that I was already in the process of reproducing those structures in pieces like Piano Phase. I had been doing it instinctively, drawn by their ambiguity. The trip to Ghana made me aware of the long history of rhythmic counterpoints and repetitive motifs. It was like a pat on the shoulder as if to say: “Keep doing what you’re doing! Get back in synch with the percussionist you were when you were 14!” And so that’s what I did. 

Until July 15, the Paris Opera is performing Drumming Live, by the choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, with costumes by Dries Van Noten. Our partners at Numero.com talked to him about that collaboration. 

Dries Van Noten: When I work on my collections, I alone make my decisions without external constraints. Thinking about the movements the garment will allow, working for another creative individual and sharing their vision is really highly instructive. I’m not young anymore, but I always like to meet new people and discover their way of thinking.

Anne Teresa’s vision is highly specific because she doesn’t like stage costumes, which makes my work all the more difficult: we need to give the impression that the dancers are wearing their own clothes. To a certain degree, it’s the way I work on my own collections: I don’t like to think in terms of a total look, I prefer to visualise pieces you can mix with the rest of your wardrobe. With Anne Teresa, that idea became all the more radical, because the shape of the garments had to be ultra-simple. 

I wanted to add colour to express the positive energy inherent in Drumming Live. With the orange garments, you get the impression that you’re watching little flames dancing on stage. And those graded colour tones reminiscent of Rothko interact with pure white.

The two pieces were created within a short space of time. Generally speaking, Anne Teresa prefers to work on the movement first and introduce the costumes later. In Drumming Live and Rain, the costumes are indissociable from the choreography and the movement; they reinforce each other.

We worked on a progressive change in colours seeing them as variations of energy. For Rain, we go from nude to pink to fuchsia, and then from light grey to silver. For Drumming Live, it was the same process. The interplay of light adds to these variations by radically altering the perception of the colours.

My fabrics are maximalist, but my cut remains fairly simple. For Drumming Live and Rain, I found it interesting to tone down the richness of the fabrics I choose in order to focus on the interplay of transparencies and on the different shades of white. That impulse to move towards greater purity and simplicity, to extol the movement of the body, was fairly natural for me.

I would say that we share a direct and rather down-to-earth mindset. Also, in a small country like Belgium, and a medium-sized city like Antwerp, the creative minds from every discipline are more inclined to collaborate with each other. Dance, theatre, fashion, film and music intersect and interact more easily.

Of course! For spring-summer 2015, I imagined a menswear collection inspired by dance. I would never have done that if I hadn’t collaborated with Anne Teresa, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Justin Peck.

Interviewed by Delphine Roche Delphine Roche is editor in chief of Numéro, a magazine devoted to fashion and art. She is the brainchild behind artistic performances that fuse dance with other disciplines and she also makes films for online platforms.

Currently on the bill at the Bastille Opera, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker'work Drumming Live makes the dancers of the company move to the heady rythms of the Ictus Ensemble's percussions. An hour-performance, raging and uninterrupted, during which dancers and musicians stand united around the same impetus: the pure pleasure of playing.

Interview with Georges-Elie Octors
Musical Director and percussionist of the Ictus Ensemble

Georges-Elie Octors : I discovered the piece soon after its creation in 1971. At the time, the composition of contemporary music had reached a degree of hyper-sophistication and the air of change coming from the United States seemed new and totally refreshing to me. Drumming is a total success. It is a piece perfectly suited to percussion, impossible to transpose to other instruments. I place it among Steve Reich’s absolute masterpieces along with Music for 18 musicians and Tehillim.

The idea came from Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. For a dance performance with live music there’s nothing better because it's a truly physical piece. The physical energy comes from the percussionists themselves and sometimes draws the audience.'s gaze Our performance is in symbiosis with the dancers. Each change is synchronised to the second in order not to destabilise the choreography or the lighting.

With taped music, conditions are not always optimal on stage. So, when the musicians are on stage, the dancers benefit directly from their physical presence and all those little interpretive nuances that characterise each performance. There’s an indisputable energy transfer. From the back of the stage, we have the impression that we are "making the dancers dance". The fourth part, a bona fide trance, illustrates that sentiment exactly: the more energy we convey the further we carry them. It’s rare to find music in the contemporary repertoire with a beat that can provoke such a desire to move.

It would be a lie to say that it’s always an ordeal. However, performing the piece has its dangers because it demands a high level of collective concentration. One moment of inattention can have disastrous consequences and bring the whole structure down. With time, performance difficulties have practically disappeared. Today, we’re basically left with the pure pleasure of playing which is genuine, powerful and boundless.

We have always focused on what is more advantageous for the dancing. For example, in the first part we play at a faster tempo than in the second to create a contrast that allows the dancers to rebound better. Even so, in the score, the two parts were written with the same tempo. Those modifications were the result of a genuine evolution that developed progressively after each performance in a way that was only possible over time. The real privilege for us is to have played the piece so often in front of an audience, primarily thanks to the Rosas company’s production.

Officially, as musical director, I’m responsible for the Ictus Ensemble, but in this particular case it’s all about a collective effort. From the moment I start to play, I rely on the other musicians and it is more difficult for me to have an overall view of our performance. Each musician can express their opinion and many choices are made collaboratively. In some ways, Drumming is a reflection of the Ensemble: a balanced collaborative effort where responsibilities are shared. To a certain degree it’s the secret of our alchemy and the reason for which Ictus is still comprised of the same musicians as when it was created in 1993.

Interview with Tom De Cock
Artistic Advisor and percussionist of the Ictus Ensemble

Tom De Cock : In terms of timing, nothing changes because we scrupulously respect the length of the recording. The major difference comes from the energy we transmit to the dancers. The pulse and vibrations generated by the percussions carry the dancers. Our place behind the scenes inside Jan Versweyveld’s stage design gives rise to the sound from afar and, like an avalanche of air, it envelops the dancers. The physical performance of the musicians also plays a part in making the entire show yet more animated and energetic.

The nature of repetitive music, along with the rhythms directly inspired by African rhythms, make Drumming an ideal piece for dance. These rhythms are enhanced by a superimposition of instruments, polyrhythms and a "phasing" technique making the score all the more complex and adings psychoacoustic layers. The superimposed tones create an almost hallucinogenic effect. In the third movement, for example, you can hear a very low hum coming from the glockenspiels when they are played at high speed. Sometimes, you can even here instruments and voices that are not on stage. These more elaborate layers are conducive to the choreography and enable the material to constantly renew itself.

By the radical nature of the musical material—Drumming is based on a single rhythmic-melodic motif—it occupies an important place in Steve Reich’s repertoire but also in the history of contemporary music. Particularly at the time it was created because there had never been anything quite so unusual.

Our movements across the stage are highly codified. Our entrances and exits are organised with extreme precision. We always enter and exit in the same way. Anne Teresa De Keermaker wanted to make the musical structure and the way it develops visible. The fact we’re musicians doesn’t mean we're not conscious of our bodies. We’re always seeking to give meaning to our movements.

Today, when I perform the piece, it’s basically a reflex. It’s in my blood. Even so, it remains difficult because it requires total concentration. The piece has a life force of its own that seems to come from its tribal roots inspired by Balinese music to create a sound that is entirely unique. Thanks in part to Georges-Elie Octors who is always seeking to seize the musicians' original attention, we remain creative. Each time, the force of our performance is rooted in our ability to look on the score as a challenge.

The fifth of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s ballets to enter the Paris Opera Ballet's repertoire, Drumming Live is a group piece that pushes its performers to the physical limits in a collective trance. Structures as spatial as they are choreographic are essential; both are in complete osmosis with Steve Reich’s score. With Drumming Live, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker combines precision of construction with vigour of expression, sculpting space, time and the energy of her dancers. Photographer Agathe Poupeney was able to capture several moments from this frenetic sprint. Commentary by the ballet coach Jakub Truszkowski, a dancer from the Rosas Company who is passing the work on to the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet. 

Commentary: “Historically, Drumming opened a new chapter in the work of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, returning to something highly architectural and aesthetic without a narrative line. It is a work based on a single choreographic phrase repeated and manipulated in every possible combination for an hour. It’s quasi-mathematical. It is fascinating to see how, starting with the simple idea of developing a single phrase, we achieve such dynamic choreography.”

Commentary: “It’s an extremely accessible piece on many levels. It’s energetic, inspiring. The audience can enter this choreographic and musical trance without knowing Anne Teresa’s language. It is also a didactic piece which reveals a great deal about the choreographer's work in her spatial and musical structures. The musical score is interpreted in its entirety on stage as the dancers progress through space and move on stage.”

Commentary: “Each dancer has their own spiral and their own specific trajectory. Nothing in the piece is accidental. Each movement and each interaction between the dancers is born out of a specific intention. There is a perfect balance between the constraints it imposes on the dancers and the freedom it gives them in their choreographic interpretation.”

Commentary: “Anne Teresa visualises the music. She is extremely precise in her analysis of the musical structure. She then tries to take account of her inspiration and understanding to represent it through movement.”