Contemporary Technique
how to recycle the energy of a movment

The class builds progressivly from deep and static stretching to very physical and dynamic phrases. Some of the main focusses of the class are the explorations or natural connections in the body and how to use gravity (centrifugal force, potential and cinetic energy...) and floor as dance
partners. We will look towards ways of developing a strong sense of organicity, finding a balance between what you control and what you let happen, how to recycle the energy of a movment into another, how to increase the speed of your dancing in a relativly effortless way. The class challenges the participants to take the risk of exploring their physicality as far as they can, more in their flexibility than in the intensity of their dancing.

Damien Jalet about his work
www.corpus.net


Damien Jalet
Damien Jalet is French and Belgian. After his first studies in theatre at the I.N.S.A.S. (National Institute of the Performing Arts, Brussels) he shifted to contemporary dance studying it in Belgium and in New York. He started his dance career with Wim Vandekeybus on the show "The Day of Heaven and Hell" in 1998 and danced with choreographers such as Ted Stoffer and Christine De Smedt. In 2000 he began an intense collaboration with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui as his artistic partner within the company Les Ballets C. de la B. They co-created "rien de rien" (2000), "Foi" (2003), "Tempus Fugit" (2004), and "Myth" (2006).
In 2002 he created the piece "d'avant" in collaboration with Cherkaoui, Luc Dunberry and Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola; the short movie "The Unclear Age" in 2005, co-directed with Erna Ómarsdóttir and the movie makers Dumspiro. Together with Erna Ómarsdóttir, Gabriela Fridriksdóttir and Raven he created the piece "Ofaett" (Unborn) for the Theatre National de Bretagne.

In 2006 he created the short duet "Aleko" for the Museum of Contemporary Art of Aomori, Japan, in collaboration with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Alexandra Gilbert. He has been collaborating with the French director Arthur Nauzyciel and the actress Anne Brochet for the creation of "l'image" of Samuel Beckett for the celebration of his centenary in Dublin.
On the invitation of the philosopher Giorgio Agemben, he also signed the choreography for the contemporary opera "il cielo sulla terra" from Stefano Scodanibbio, for the Opera of Stuttgart.

In 2008 together with Nick Knight and Bernhard Willhelm he directed the video "men in tights", presentation of the Willhelm Men's collection 2008-09, this being a first step of an artistic collaboration with the designer.
He also signed the choreographic work of "Julius Caesar" for the American Repertory Theater, Boston and "Ordet" for the festival d'Avignon 2008, both pieces directed by Arthur Nauzyciel.
In March 2008 he premiered "three spells" at the Tokyo International Arts Festival, live music by Christian Fennesz.
He assisted Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for the creation of the piece "In Memoriam" for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and "Loin" for the Ballet of the Grand Theatre of Geneva, "end" for the Cullberg Ballet and "Sutra" for 16 Shaolin Monks.

Damien Jalet studied Ethnomusicology and polyphonic singing with Giovanna Marini, Christine Leboutte, Nando Acquaviva, and Nicole Casalongua amongst others.
He has taught dancers in many international institutions and companies: Charleroi-danses (Brussels), ImPulsTanz (Vienna), Needcompany (Brussels), Chunky Move (Melboune), Biwako Hall (Kyoto), Panetta Movement Center (New York), HJS (Amsterdam), Iceland Arts Academy (Reykjavik), amongst others.