Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker is a Belgian choreographer and dancer whose work has fundamentally shaped contemporary dance since the early 1980s. Born in Mechelen on June 11, 1960, she trained at Maurice Béjart's Mudra School in Brussels and at NYU Tisch School of the Arts before creating her early works *Asch* (1980) and *Fase* (1982). In 1983, she founded the company Rosas in Brussels and created *Rosas danst Rosas*, a landmark piece that made repetition, layered structure, everyday gesture, and visible exhaustion central to its expressive power. The work accumulates abstract phrases while small daily gestures and fatigue create emotional intensity within rigorous formal design.

De Keersmaeker's practice centers on sustained investigation of dance's relationship to music, using geometry, numerical patterns, and natural forms to shape bodies in space and time. Her collaborations with composer Steve Reich exemplify this approach: *Drumming* (1998) and *Rain* (2001) join his music to geometric point-and-counterpoint group structures, creating dense rhythmic and spatial counterplay. In 1995, she founded P.A.R.T.S., a school in Brussels dedicated to advancing choreographic practice and education.

Her influence extends beyond the stage. Thierry De Mey's 1997 film version of *Rosas danst Rosas* became an iconic extension of the stage work, reaching audiences through cinema. In 2025, the Japan Art Association named De Keersmaeker the Praemium Imperiale laureate in Theatre/Film, recognizing her sustained contribution to global dance culture and artistic innovation.