Rosas

On the 16th and 17th of September 2023, BERNABO was presented at the Festival Constellations in Toulon.

BERNABO, a dance solo by Boštjan Antončič, was originally part of En Atendant, an evening-length choreography created for the Cloître des Célestins in Avignon in 2010. There, the dance was presented in the open air, under the night sky, on an uneven surface of stone and sand, and in the company of old trees and the occasional gust of wind. This unique environment encouraged De Keersmaeker to explore a certain economy of means, reflected not only in the absence of a set and stage lighting, but also in the premise of the choreography, which focuses on the physical presence of the body, and on the fundamental movements of walking and breathing. The pared-down nature of the dance was also inspired by the music. For En Atendant, De Keersmaeker turned to the history of Avignon and Ars Subtilior, an intricate musical form dating back to the 14th century: a time marked by socio-political upheaval and the plague; uncertainty, darkness, and death. Later, the scenography for En Atendant was adapted for the black box by Michel François: he evoked the original setting by tracing a line of soil across the stage – a single thin, straight line, painstakingly crafted before each performance and slowly de(con)structed by Rosas dancer Boštjan Antončič. By the end of his dance, the floor and the dancer’s body are covered in a thin layer of dust evocative of the work’s original source. Bernabo was presented as an autonomous solo for the first time in the Horta Hall at Bozar in Brussels in March 2023, in the context of the exhibition Michel François: Contre nature. In Toulon, it was performed outdoors.

Dates
Saturday 16 September, 15:00 
Saturday 16 September, 19:15
Sunday 17 September, 12:30 

Location 
Tour Royale
Avenue de la Tour Royale
83000 Toulon

Free entrance

More information on the website of Festival Constellation