Mirage, by Damien Jalet and Kohei Nawa

With Mirage, Damien Jalet presents his first creation for the Ballet du Grand Théâtre, where he has been an associate artist since 2022. Mirage also constitutes the fourth chapter of his collaboration with Japanese visual artist Kohei Nawa. After VESSEL (2016), Mist (2021) and Planet [wanderer] (2023; 2021 at GTG), they continue their exploration of the perpetually metamorphosing nature of living beings, merging their respective disciplines and confronting the human body with different materials. Inspired by the phenomenon of mirages and fata morgana (optical illusions associated with weather conditions caused by the distortion of light passing through layers of air at different temperatures), Damien Jalet and Kohei Nawa portray a wandering humanity in a metaphorical desert, in search of itself. Through a series of transformations, the piece strips the performers, layer after layer, exploring an infinite variety of physical and emotional states. Sometimes evoking the specters of a civilization on the brink of a dry well, sometimes crossed by the dazzling colors and sensuality of tropical nature, Mirage crosses the stage like a waking dream, mobile and floating, made of atmospheric phenomena.