Damien Jalet has travelled the world, infusing his dance with images of the myths, religions, and rituals of each country that he visits, and reflecting the conflict between body and mind in the dance. Kohei Nawa explores materials and techniques through his sculptures and installations that communicate an organic world view while successfully combining image and materiality.
As the basic concept for this part of their collaborative project, Jalet and Nawa chose "vessel"—the background to everything that is subsumed by life and death, and the cycles of earth and life. Incorporating into the stage design a breadth of physical properties that extends to gases, liquids, and solids, they attempt to create a dynamic merger between the stage and the bodies of the dancers as they constantly transform their figures.
The distinctive "headless" poses hide the head, conferring anonymity by concealing gender and identity and hinting at the existence of some non-human entity. The world view painted by this sculptural dance transcends the genre of performing art, and bears the promise of further extension into different fields.

Credits

dancers : Aimilios Arapoglou , Nobuoyoshi Asai , Nao Aerstix , Ruri Mitoh , Moriyama Mirai , Mayumu Minakawa , Jun Morii

Choreography : Damien Jalet
Scenography : Kohei Nawa
Music : Marihiko Hara（Special guest: Ryuichi Sakamoto）
Lighting : Yukiko Yoshimoto
Sound : Yoshihisa Fukuhara
Stage director : So Ozaki
Documenting : Hidetaka Ino, Yoshiyuki Sakuragi, Masato Indo(Movie), Yoshikazu Inoue(Still）

Music: Marihiko Hara
With the participation of Ryuichi Sakamoto

Damien Jalet is a French and Belgian freelance  choreographer and performer. Since 2000 he’s been working as the closest and most regular collaborator of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, within Les ballets C. de la B., Toneelhuis and Eastman vzw (he danced in "Rien de Rien", "Fo", "Tempus Fugit", "Myth" and recently "TeZukA").

In 2002 Jalet and Cherkaoui created "d’avant", together with Luc Dunberry and Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola, produced by Sasha Waltz and guests. Jalet and Cherkaoui also signed "Babel(words)". Damien Jalet also regularly works with Icelandic choreographer Erna Ómarsdóttir. Together they’ve been creating a number of works in collaboration with visual artist Gabriela Fridriksdóttir. Ómarsdóttir and Jalet also created "Black Marrow" for the renowned Australian company Chunky Move at the Melbourne international festival 2009.

In 2008 Jalet premiered "Three Spells" with dancer Alexandra Gilbert and composer Christian Fennesz for the Tokyo International Arts Festival. He also worked with other renowned choreographers, such as Wim Vandekeybus ("The day of heaven and hell") and Akram Khan (for whom he devised a solo segment in the piece "Desh")

Jalet has developed a big number of collaborations with high-level artists in different fields, such as theater director Arthur Nauzyciel, visual artists (Antony Gormley, Jim Hodges), musicians (Lady and Bird, Olof Arnalds, Florence + The Machine, Editors). He also worked with photographer Nick Knight and designer Bernhard Willhelm (the video "Men in tights") and with philosopher Giorgio Agemben and contemporary musician Stefano Scodanibio (the opera "Il cielo sulla terra").

In february 2013 he directed an important choreographic installation named "les médusés" in some of the greatest rooms of  Louvre museum in  Paris  with the participation of more than 30 artists from different disciplines. In Mai 2013 he creates in collaboration with Cherkaoui and legendary performance artist Marina Abramovic, a new version of Ravel's "Bolero" for the Paris Opera Ballet, the costumes were designed by Givenchy's artistic director Riccardo Tisci and the 11 dancer's cast included étoiles Aurélie Dupont, Marie Agnès Gillot and Jérémie  Bélingard.

Source : Damien Jalet’s website

More information : damienjalet.com