Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Jérôme Bel’s 3Abschied – with musical accompaniment by Ictus – staged its UK premiere at Sadler’s Wells. It was an intense collaboration embodying the final part of Gustav Mahler’s ‘Das Lied von der Erde’ (or ‘Song of the Earth’), ‘Der Abschied’ (The Farewell), De Keersmaeker having been captivated by this music for some time. With De Keersmaeker performing a solo amongst 13 other bodies on stage, her notorious choreographic stigma was emphasised in the contrast between her actions and their still bodies seated as a small orchestra. It is suggestible that neither commercialism nor her appeal to her audiences influences De Keersmaeker in the slightest: this piece demonstrates that it is her own journey through the particularly sensitive music that is important, rather than staging a performance in essence.

Recently, much controversy has surrounded De Keersmaeker as a result of movements similar to those of her work Rosas danst Rosas appearing in Beyoncé’s latest music video. However 3Abschied was a completely alternative work to that of Rosas – and also Beyoncé – as De Keersmaeker's intense gaze out to her audience confirmed that her work is more important than the associations that surround it. De Keersmaeker was fascinating to watch. The first 30 minutes of the performance equated to her placing a disc in the player and listening intently to Mahler’s work, moving on to talking at length about her processes in creating the work with Bel. As a choreographer renowned for her lack of smile, this action gave much insight into her thinking and intentions for her work, connecting her performance with the audience and allowing them to discover a little to add to numerous speculations. Naturally, the audience wonders what is going through her mind: will we ever really know the woman behind such iconic works?

Despite being advised not to use Song of the Earth as musical accompaniment for her work, De Keersmaeker stated she felt compelled to discover more about it in its acceptance of death by someone who knows they will die very soon, then inviting Bel to collaborate with her. Even De Keersmaeker asks, ‘How do you dance to music which talks about death?’ Her focus on the sickness of the Earth and human beings is not so much an ecological statement but one of acceptance, again. She seems to believe there will be a time when the Earth will no longer be inhabited by humans, but that is simply part of the natural world. The movement De Keersmaeker utilised was subtly anguished in its stances and transitions. The movement was not present throughout the whole performance, with much emphasis also placed on the incredible singer Sara Fulgoni and the poignancy of the musical variations in the journey towards death. De Keersmaeker incorporated the audience into her performance through her pained focus, which was neither contrived or clichéd, allowing her body to take over the hours of rehearsal time to connect deeply with the message that was present throughout. She was committed to the entire process in such purposeful yet simplistic movement, arguably allowing the audience to truly consider the Song of the Earth and what it means for them.

Both the tension and intention of De Keersmaeker’s performance was stark in assigning a choreographic form to the music and embodying it in her physical struggle to advance through it. With Bel also offering his interpretation of their collaboration later in the performance, the audience became privy to a unique work which sought to scrape the surface of something we will never find answers to. The context added by De Keersmaeker and Bel provided the audience with additional feeling that may not have naturally occurred. Today, the eternity of the Earth as we know it is questionable, and whilst this is a worrying position, 3Abschied seemed to confirm that the acceptance of this brings less fear than questioning.