Four men. Four movements. Four seasons: a stark, sinuous and urgent dance piece inspired by Vivaldi’s seminal composition.
On the day of Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday, how fitting to see a piece of art questioning climate change. Led by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker andRadouan Mriziga, theyset out to explore Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons..
The piece starts confusingly enough with what appears to be epileptic Morse code. A seemingly endless display of neon white tube lights on the stage walls blink variably on and off and on and off again before a sickly pale orange glow pervades the space in time for a silent depiction of autunno (Autumn). Spartan staging, solo staccato movements bleeding into a depiction of animalistic tendencies- most notably horses- lead the audience into an awkward opener. Inverno (winter) arrives and the four men merge movements with percussive stomping, claps and energetic limb extension as one member is just slightly but deliberately off beat. Silence again pervades the space until a clever tapdance leads us into the effervescent recording of Amandine Beyer’s violin arrangement of primavera (Spring) with her ensemble Gli Incogniti.
Now we get into the meat of the performance. The circadian rhythm of nature feels more obvious as the performers weave in deliberate, matching geometric figures of eight on the stage, occasionally flinging up an arm as if to disperse seeds. This sequence, permeated by the soaring Vivaldi composition famous the world over reminds us of the stasis, the repetition and the uncertainty of the environment not sure where it must go next.
As the performers move into Estate (summer), we find ourselves in new ground. Bathed in predictable warm orange lights, three of the performers dance balletic movements, as though they are going through the expected motions of the season. They’ve done this before, they did this last year and this is what they always do. This is their nature and this is what happens in summer. However the fourth performer, Nassim Baddag begins to break away, performing breakdancing and physical geometry that implies nature is now looking for a way to adapt. His movements portray a season in evolution and response to the heat bearing down on them that feels endless and threatening.
This 90-mite piece eventually loops back into a more playful autumn and winter again before spoken word poetry. Asmaa Jama’s ‘We, the salvage’ provides a devastating sense of urgency and directness of the climate’s struggle to be saved before it is too late. It has become too late and the stage turns to black.
The stark, plain stage often feels barren and unforgiving, sometimes complimenting its season but often providing clichés (harsh white strip light for winter, warm glow for summer- hardly groundbreaking). However the real strength lies in the power of the body to portray everything from feral animal representations and their relationship with nature, to tap dancing Vivaldi’s melody, to playful depictions of wintry iceskating and picking crops during harvest. Pirouettes and arabesques blend meaningfully with pops, locks, windmills and footwork. The use of mesh vest and basketball shorts or tracksuit pants worn by the dancers lends a contemporary approach to the piece perfectly contrasted by its baroque soundtrack. The show is exquisitely performed with dancers of impressive skills and expressive bodies- Boštjan Antončič, Nassim Baddag, Lav Crnčević and José Paulo dos Santos are also its co-creators. They have created something powerful and beautiful but they need to give Vivaldi’s music room to breathe amongst the neon- unfortunately the audience was snatched the chance to enjoy any of the sonic seasons in full, constantly punctuated as they were with modernity’s distractions i.e. humans. Perhaps that was the point.
Rosas: Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione is on for two nights at Sadlers Wells Theatre, London- 8-9th May 2026.