De Keersmaeker/Kolesnikov/Franco, The Goldberg Variations, Sadler's Wells

Rigorous and uncompromising are perhaps the best two words to describe Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker's approach to dance. Even her most ardent fans can sometimes feel stretched by her absolute refusal to make allowances for the comfort of the audience.

And certainly a measure of endurance will be required to sit through The Goldberg Variations, her work set to J S Bach's complex late period work. De Keersmaeker has tackled Bach before, namely his Six Brandenburg Concertos, but whereas that work luxuriated in the complexity of Bach's music with a large cast, The Goldberg Variations is pared down to absolute basics.

Two pianists, Pavel Kolesnikov and Alain Franco, accompany a single dancer, de Keersmaeker herself, barefoot, silver hair in a plain ponytail, dressed in severe black, on a darkly lit stage.


The music features one aria and 30 intricate variations, and the choreography seeks to respond by mirroring the music's own pathways. It does so in a performance that lasts two hours and where, as you can see from the trailer above, her face remains inscrutable, the movements are abrupt and repetitive.

It's absolutely not everybody's cup of tea, but perhaps if you like your dance almost as visual mathematics, you may well enjoy de Keersmaeker's latest offering at Sadler's Wells.