With Drumming (1998), choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker returned to two of her great loves as a choreographer: pure dance and the minimalistic music of Steve Reich. After an impressive artistic journey of almost twenty years, this resulted in an iconic creation to Reich’s pulsating score, pushing to the extreme everything which gradually had become part of De Keersmaeker’s artistic signature: the mathematical figures, the sustained repetition, the geometric occupation of the space, and the art of continuous variation.

Drumming is characterised by a unification of a very refined structure with virtuosity and the sheer joy of dancing. Not only De Keersmaeker’s idiom of energetic movements, but also Dries Van Noten’s costumes and Jan Versweyveld’s scenography contribute to the strength of the visual composition.

Since 1998, Drumming has been performed continuously on stages all around the globe. This process was followed from up close by photographers Herman Sorgeloos and Anne Van Aerschot. Their elaborate archives offer an exceptional view into the unique aesthetics of this piece.

Texts by: Noé Soulier. Tessa Hall en Julia Rubies Subiros. Fotografen: Anne Van Aerschot, Herman Sorgeloos