The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

“The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988” is a deeply poetic exploration of Johann Sebastian Bach's famous late work, in which the composer explores the boundaries of musical themes in a play of variations, canons and fugues. 


For this composition, he started from a simple and quiet melody, joined with an underlying bass line, which steadily unfolds into a musical cosmos that reveals itself with extraordinary variety and unparalleled complexity.The large cast of “The Six Brandenburg Concertos” – an earlier work by De Keersmaeker based on Bach's composition of the same name – is now brought back to a solo performance danced by herself.


In doing so, she stays true to the same principle of the musical score for the choreography: direct communication with musicians and a strictly structured framework. Thus, even if it also appears light-footed, playful and sometimes even mischievous, the choreography of this solo is also prescribed in advance down to the last detail. What emerges is a dance concert that allows both music and dance to have a voice of their own, but also combines them in harmony.