Planet [wanderer]

 
 

Planet [wanderer]

By Damien Jalet and Kohei Nawa

“Between choreography and visual experimentation, Planet [wanderer] exposes the body of the dancers to different materials to describe the visceral and oneiric link between human beings and their planet.”⠀

Photography - Rahi Rezvani

 
 
 

 

Story

The first joint opus, VESSEL, recalled two levels of the creation of the world according to Japanese mythology: the abyss and the world above the clouds. Planet [wanderer], the second part of this diptych, takes place in the “middle earth of reeds”, in other words, in our world. Here, a scintillating black sand, stardust or meteorite, shaped a landscape, that the presence of the bodies then surreptitiously modifies. Through the confrontation of the human body with various experimental materials, elements and gravity, Planet [wanderer] is a physical and poetic evocation of the migratory nature of life and of the powerful and fragile relationship that connects us to this spheric nomad that is our planet."

 
 
 
 
 
 

At the very last moment, we were able to make a very small contribution to this epic work.

Creating this costume was a “make it look dope but not distracting” sort of brief, with a hard wired ”ensure it is atemporal”/⠀

However the challenge was very much physical - designing from the other side of the world, in a different timezone, without the dancers, and having to imagine the tactility and properties of the material. Much time was spent directing through live feed with Alexandra.

The exercise required an approach I hadn’t fully tried before - sitting still, entering a state of meditation, accepting that there was nothing to touch... and then performing the entire drapery and pattern cutting in my mind. The entire process. From the material width, the fall, the wrap, offsetting the seams to crease and pleat, and then the sewing order and finishing.

A totally cerebral, yet entirely intuitive journey to create a cognitive, step by step, improvisation.

Much like a blind dance with a partner of fog.⠀

 
 
 

 

Credits

Choreography - Damien Jalet
Set Design - Kohei Nawa
Music - Tim Hecker
Lighting - Yukiko Yoshimoto⠀
Assistant to Choreography - Alexandra Hoàng Gilbert⠀
Costumes - Sruli Recht with Alexandra Hoàng Gilbert⠀
Sound Design Collaboration - Xavier Jacquot⠀
Dramaturge - Catalina Navarrete Hernández
Performers - Shawn Ahern, Kim Amankwaa, Aimilios Arapoglou, Francesco Ferrari, Vinson Fraley, Christina Guieb, Astrid Sweeney, Ema Yuasa

Production - Chaillot - Théâtre National de la danse
Coproduction - Sandwich Inc. / Théâtre National de Bretagne / Festspielhaus St. Pölten / Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre / Rohm Theatre Kyoto / Opéra de Rouen Normandie

With the support of - Grand Marble / Matsushima Holdings Co., Ltd
Thanks to Théo Casciani

Nominee of the FEDORA - VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet 2020 Co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union

 
 
Sruli Recht