A breach of silence: affective soundscapes in Sasha Waltz’s Roméo et Juliette

Abstract

This article analyses Roméo’s silent solo dance in German choreographer Sasha Waltz’s staging of Hector Berlioz’s dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette for the Paris Opera Ballet. The musicless scene, which imagines Roméo’s reaction to the news of Juliette’s ‘death’, exposes the dancer’s physicality through various acoustic means, creating a soundscape that makes the character’s despair accessible to the audience as affective intensities. The solo thus not only brings together competing stances towards emotionalism from classical and non-classical theatre dance, but also builds upon the philosophical interrogation of artistic expression both in Shakespeare’s play and in its musical adaptation by Berlioz.