Certain “early works” carry a very particular tone. They do not age, and continue to remind us of the surge of energy and radicality that accompanies the invention of a style. Today, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker chooses, for the first time, to approach the “beginnings” of a giant of the minimalist adventure: Philip Glass. Radical and timeless, Glass’ music stands out for its paradoxical blend of hyper-formalism and a call to trance.

It was at this moment that the young artist discovered the potential of music based on the combination of very brief patterns. This technique makes it possible to create a musical flow that is vertiginous and fast like a torrent—both repetitive and unpredictable. Upon his return to New York in 1967, another artistic shock awaited Philip Glass. Sobriety and reduction had become the watchwords of American modern art, championed by visual artists such as Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra, and Donald Judd.

For this occasion, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker brings together six Rosas dancers and the musicians of the ensemble Bl!ndman—whose 2024 recording of music by Glass (Icons, The American Minimalists) was unanimously acclaimed by critics—as well as her long-time collaborators from Ictus (for our sixteenth collaboration!). We will share our converging approaches to the music of Philip Glass, in search of a transcendental experience and a practice of dance that, like the music that carries it, “erases all the bar lines.”