On November 12, 2023, the monumental cavern designed by artist JR that enveloped the Palais Garnier's façade came to life during "Chiroptera." This performance, featuring 154 dancers, was the result of a collaboration between JR, choreographer Damien Jalet, and composer Thomas Bangalter.Two months after presenting Act I of his "Retour à la Caverne" project on the Opéra national de Paris's façade, JR invited the public to discover the project's second part, a contemporary retelling of Plato's myth.The curtain rose to reveal Chiroptera, the result of JR's collaboration with Jalet and Bangalter.On Place de l'Opéra, 25,000 spectators gathered to watch Étoile dancer Amandine Albisson project her imposing, anthropomorphic shadow into the cavern and to see 153 other dancers perform on scaffolding thirty meters high.Thus revealed, the cavern becomes a shelter, protecting its residents from the violence of the world. Only by questioning our own perspective can we grasp the true meaning of the cavern and discover a path to enlightenment.Production : Social animals With the participation of Arte France JR, Damien Jalet & Thomas Bangalter : Chiroptera  Réalisation Vincent Lorca; Auteurs : JR, Vincent Lorca ; Production : JRSA; France 2024

Dans la lumiere

Dans la lumière

On November 12, 2023, the monumental cavern designed by artist JR that enveloped the Palais Garnier's façade came to life during "Chiroptera." This performance, featuring 154 dancers, was the result of a collaboration between JR, choreographer Damien

JR, Damien Jalet et Thomas Bangalter

Into the light

Damien Jalet studied at the Institut national supérieur des arts du spectacle in Brussels. He also studied ethnomusicology and dance in New York. He danced in Wim Vandekeybus' company before joining the Les Ballets C. de la B. collective where he met Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. He danced for the latter (Rien de Rien, Foi, Tempus Fugit, Myth and TeZukA), before co-signing with him d'avant (2002) and Babel (words) (2010). In May 2013, Damien Jalet choreographed Le Boléro for the Paris Opera Ballet with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in a scenography by visual artist Marina Abramović. In 2017, Le Boléro was back on the Palais Garnier stage. He works again with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in 2018, staging Pelléas et Mélisande. He works regularly with Icelandic choreographer Erna Ómarsdóttir and visual artist Gabriela Fridriksdóttir (Transaquania-outof the blue, Transaquania-into thin air and Ofaett (unborn)). With Ómarsdóttir he also produced Black Marrow (Chunky Move Company, Melbourne, 2009). He collaborated with dancer Alexandra Gilbert and composer Christian Fennesz on Three Spells (2008, Tokyo International Art Festival), with Akram Khan (solo in Desh), and with stage director Arthur Nauzyciel (Samuel Beckett's L'image, Dublin, 2006; Julius Caesar, The American Repertory Theater in Boston, 2008; Ordet by Kaj Munk, 2008; Le Musée de la mer by Marie Darrieussecq, 2009; Jan Karski, 2011; the opera Red Waters by Lady and Bird, 2011 ; La Mouette, in the Cour d’honneur of the Palais des papes, Festival d’Avignon, 2012 ; Splendid's by Jean Genet, 2014 : La Dame aux camélias, 2018). He has also made music videos with Olöf Arnalds and Björk (Surrender), with Florence + The Machine (No Light, No Light) and the English group Editors (You don't know love). He also works with photographer Nick Knight and stylist Bernhard Willhelm (Men in tights), as well as with philosopher Giorgio Agemben and musician Stefano Scodanibio (Il cielo sulla terra at the Stuttgart Opera). In February 2013, Damien Jalet conceived the choreographic journey Les Médusés at the Louvre with the participation of more than 20 performers. In 2014, he created Yama for the Scottish Dance Theatre with visual artist Jim Hodges and the group Winter Family, as well as the solo inked for kathak dancer Aakash Odedra. Later on, he choreographed Gravity Fatigue (2015), Thr(o)ugh (2016), Skid (2017). In 2018, Damien Jalet choreographed the remake of Suspiria, by Luca Guadagnino, Since 2017, Damien Jalet has presented YAMA and Vessel at the TNB and reprised for the European dates only his piece Omphalos at the 2019 TNB Festival. Damien Jalet is an associate artist at the TNB and works regularly with the school's students. Associate artist at Chaillot - Théâtre national de la Danse since 2019, Damien Jalet has also worked for companies such as Les Ballets C de la B, Sasha Waltz, Chunky Move, Eastman, NYDC, Hessiches Staatballet, Scottish Dance Theatre, Icelandic Dance Company, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. In 2019, Damien Jalet fully choreographed Anima, a 15-minute danced film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson with Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, for which he received the UKMVA award for the best choreography. The same year, he directed and choreographed several sequences of Madonna's first theatre tour, Madame X, which was unanimously acclaimed by the press. Finally, Damien Jalet regularly teaches his contemporary dance technique at the Pina Bausch Tanztheater (Wuppertal), at the Impulstanz Festival (Vienna), at the Panetta movement center (New York), at the Centros de las artes (Mexico), as well as in Paris (Atelier de Paris and Ménagerie de verre).

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