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Esplanade Presents
23 Apr 2026, Thu, 7.30pm
24 Apr 2026, Fri, 7.30pm
25 Apr 2026, Sat, 7.30pm
(Intermission: None)
Singtel Waterfront Theatre at Esplanade
★★★★
“Fase remains a compositional marvel, its ideas fully manifest in its material, a tribute to the choreographer, composer and their respective fields – disciplines, rather – of dance and music.”
– The Guardian
★★★★
“its precise, lineal routines have ensured its continued popularity into the 21st century.”
– The List
★★★★
“spellbinding artistic alchemy…”
– Bachtrack
“a mesmerizing Minimalism map to Steve Reich’s music.”
– Los Angeles Times
Witness one of the most important works of 20th-century contemporary dance, which brings together the artistry of two living legends: choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and composer Steve Reich.
Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich premiered in 1982 as choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s very first performance when she was only 21 years old. Fase comprises three duets and one solo, created and directly named after four repetitive compositions by American minimalist Steve Reich: Piano Phase (1967), Violin Phase (1967), Come Out (1966), and Clapping Music (1972).
De Keersmaeker used the structure of Reich’s music to develop an independent movement idiom that does not merely illustrate the music but also adds a new dimension to it. Both the music and the dance start from the principle of phase shifting through tiny variations: movements that are initially perfectly synchronous gradually start slipping and sliding, resulting in an ingenious play of continuously changing forms and patterns.
Precise, rigorous in execution and hypnotic in movement, Fase made an immediate impact upon its debut and was swiftly lauded as a groundbreaking work by audience and critics alike. This landmark piece also set the trajectory for De Keersmaeker’s career and her company, Rosas. Most recently in October 2025, she was awarded the prestigious Praemium Imperiale, also known as the Nobel Prize for the Arts, in Tokyo, Japan.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker had always danced Fase herself. In 2018, she passed it on to a new generation of dancers for the first time in the work’s history.
Recognised as the blueprint for choreographing movement in dialogue with music, the work has been performed consistently for more than 40 years on major stages and festivals worldwide. Now, 20 years after Rosas’ performance of Rain at Singapore Arts Festival 2006, Esplanade is proud to present the Singapore debut of Fase on the Singtel Waterfront Theatre stage, offering a rare look at a foundational pillar of contemporary dance history.
Fase is presented as part of da:ns focus 2026 – On Loop: a spotlight on the living heritage of one of the most compelling artists of our time, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.
Production Credits
Choreography: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Danced by: Laura Bachman, Yuika Hashimoto
Created with: Michèle Anne De Mey, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Light design: Remon Fromont
Costumes (1981): Martine André / Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
Rehearsal Director: Tale Dolven
Assistant to the Artistic Director: Martine Lange
Artistic Coordination and Planning: Anne Van Aerschot
Technical Director: Thomas Verachtert
Technicians: Pieter Kint, Bennert Vancottem
Assistant Technical Director: Bennert Vancottem
Costumes Coordinator: Veerle Van den Wouwer
Costumes Coordinator assisted by: Els Van Buggenhout and Chiara Mazzarolo
Sewing: Maria Eva Rodrigues-Reyes en Gisèle Charles
Managing Director: Lies Martens
Music Credits
Steve Reich
- Piano Phase (1967)
- Come Out (1966)
- Violin Phase (1967)
- Clapping Music (1972)
World Premiere
18.03.1982 Beursschouwburg (Brussel/Bruxelles/Brussels)
Production 1982
Schaamte vzw (Brussel/Bruxelles/Brussels), Avila vzw (Brussel/Bruxelles/Brussels)
Coproduction Early Works
De Munt / La Monnaie, Sadler's Wells (Londen/Londres/London), Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris)
Special thanks to
Ella De Vos, Stefano Scoli
This production is realized with the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, in collaboration with Casa Kafka Pictures.
Rosas is supported by the Flemish Community and by the Flemish Community Commission (VGC).
There will be post-show talks with the artistic team after the performances on 23 & 24 Apr, Thu & Fri.
You are strongly encouraged to be seated before the performance start time. Latecomers will only be admitted at a suitable point.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker
In 1980, after studying dance at Mudra School in Brussels and Tisch School of the Arts in New York, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (b. 1960) created Asch, her first choreographic work. Two years later came the premiere of Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich. De Keersmaeker established the dance company Rosas in Brussels in 1983, while creating the work Rosas danst Rosas. Since these breakthrough pieces, her choreography has been grounded in a rigorous and prolific exploration of the relationship between dance and music. With Rosas, she has created a wide-ranging body of work engaging the musical structures and scores of several periods, from early music to contemporary and popular idioms. Her choreographic practice also draws formal principles from geometry, numerical patterns, the natural world, and social structures to offer a unique perspective on the body’s articulation in space and time.
In 1995, De Keersmaeker established the school P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) in Brussels. Over the past 10 years, her work has also engaged with the visual arts in museum contexts such as the Louvre, Tate Modern and MoMA. In 2023, she created EXIT ABOVE with a cast of 13 dancers and in 2024 IL CIMENTO, exploring Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Her latest creation BREL (2025) is a collaboration with dancer and choreographer Solal Mariotte.
Laura Bachman
Laura Bachman (1994, France) graduated from the Paris Opera ballet school in 2011. That same year, she joined the Paris Opera Ballet as a full-time member. During this time, she danced in classical ballets, neoclassical works, and contemporary pieces by Pina Bausch and Wayne McGregor. In 2016, she spent a few months in Los Angeles, as part of the LA Dance Project, and subsequently moved to Brussels to become a full-time member of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s company, Rosas. In 2020, she became a freelance artist. Since then, she works for several choreographers and companies, including Boris Charmatz and the Tanztheater Wuppertal, and develops her own work. After directing a short dance film Chimera in 2021, she created her first evening-length piece, Ne me touchez pas (2023). It is currently on tour in France and Belgium. Through choreography she was able to connect with several artists and disciplines. She has also created for cinema, music and opera, for artists such as Wes Anderson, Manele Labidi, Cédric Klapisch, Jain or Ron, among others.
Yuika Hashimoto
Yuika Hashimoto (Born 1991, Japan) has been dancing since she was three years old, taking lessons with Yoshie Nagai in Ishikawa. She continued her dance education in Tokyo, where she graduated from the Japan Women’s College of Physical Education in March 2014. She graduated from P.A.R.T.S. (Brussels) in June 2016. She has been collaborating with "Scarbo" saxophone quartet (Belgium) for the project PAGINE since 2015. Yuika joined Rosas in 2016 for the revival of Rain. She has been performing most of the early works, and participated in the Dark Red projects. Since 2022, Yuika has worked as a freelancer with Rosas, fieldworks (Belgium/Norway) and nïm company (Austria). On a volunteer basis, she gives dance workshops to people with mental disabilities at Bind Kracht.
Rosas
Rosas is the company of the choreographer and dancer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. It was founded in 1983 during the creation of the piece Rosas danst Rosas. Since her debut in 1982 with Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich, De Keersmaeker has been engaged in a rigorous exploration and articulation of movement, from its simplest forms to its most complex. The relationship between movement and music is essential to De Keersmaeker’s concept of dance. Rosas has expanded the art of dance as an act of writing movements in space and time, and has over the years explored choreography in partnership with other compositional forces, namely music, geometry, the visual arts, and language. De Keersmaeker’s engagement of these disciplines has involved collaborations with experts—musicians, composers, visual artists, actors, writers—who have at different times been integral participants and performers in Rosas productions.
23 Apr 2026, Thu
7.30pm
There will be a post-show dialogue.
24 Apr 2026, Fri
7.30pm
There will be a post-show dialogue.
25 Apr 2026, Sat
7.30pm
| Standard | Students, NSFs, Seniors & PWDs |
|
| Price | $55 | $46.75 |
Standard Ticket
Concession Ticket
Esplanade&Me Specials
Early Bird (29 Jan – 11 Feb 2026, limited tickets)
Black: 20% savings
White: 15% savings
Discover: 15% savings (Min. 2 tickets)
From 12 Feb 2026, 10am
Black: 15% savings
White: 10% savings
Discover: 10% savings (Min. 2 tickets)
Applicable to Standard tickets only. Terms and Conditions apply.
da:ns focus Specials
Enjoy 15% savings when you purchase min. 4 tickets across the dance productions listed below.
Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich (Cat 1 only)
The Royal Ballet Gala (Cat 1 & 2)
Fase Masterclass Specials (Limited tickets)
Ticketholders to Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich* can enjoy 10% savings to Fase Masterclass by Tale Dolven (Intermediate).
Please provide the Ticket Transaction Number on your Fase ticket during registration of masterclass.
*Applicable to Standard tickets only.
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