The aspectuality of space, time, and bodies in Rosas danst Rosas
By: Sémir Badir
| ARTICLE INFO: Volume: 12 Issue: 01:Summer 2026 ISSN: 2459-2943 DOI: 10.18680/hss.2026.0003 Pages: 39-56 Lic.: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 |
KEYWORDS: Aspectual semiotics Choreography Time Space Body |
ABSTRACT
This study applies aspectual semiotics to Rosas danst Rosas (1983), the landmark choreographic work by Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Rather than evaluating it aesthetically, the piece is used as a testing ground for the semiotic theory of aspectuality, defined as a relational structure linking an observing subject to temporal, spatial, or bodily objects. Temporally, the choreography operates through serial composition, producing inchoative and progressive aspects akin to linguistic verb aspects. Spatially, the piece is structured around a linear, one-dimensional arrangement
of dancers that gradually multiplies into parallel, orthogonal, and diagonal lines – an idealised geometry made legible to the attentive observer. On a bodily level, finally, the dancers function as “moving bodies” (in Susan Foster’s terms), creating an ambivalence between group cohesion and individual autonomy that resists fixed representation. The author ultimately proposes “constructivism” as a more fitting label than “minimalism” for the work, emphasising its rhythmic abstraction, embodied geometry, and invitation to active spectatorial meaning-making.
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