Coproductions Théâtre National de Marseille, la
Criée
Théâtre de la Ville – Paris, Festival
Montpellier Danse 2003,
Festival d’Avignon, Groupe Partouche - Casino
municipal Aix/Thermal
Near Life Experience
is a quest into different states of the body,
states which relate to intermediary sensations.
We verge on these states when we near zones
which hover on the edge of existence, to which
we have access in moments of fainting, during a
trance, in the instant of ecstasy, or orgasm.
The notion of both rapture and ravishment, of
both intensely luminous sensation and the
carrying off of the individual, comes close to
this experience. The subject is elsewhere,
carried off from himself, he is ravished.
Near Life Experience
evokes all of this, an attempt to remove
oneself from space and time. A sort of
eclipse of the self, a quest through this
imaginary amnios – a new expression in the
space left by the body.
AIR÷
Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin
Music
The duo “Air” is made up of
Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin.
The story all began in Versailles in
the 1980’s, when Jean-Benoît and Nicolas met in high
school, and together with Alex Gopher, they formed a
pop-rock group which they called Orange.
Despite good popularity, this group remained at the
college band level.
The duo made a name for itself with 3
maxis between 1995 and 1996. At the time one was an
architecture student and the other was teaching
math. They both chose to devote all their time to
music when England took notice of their work.
As of 1998, their first album,
Moon Safari, with the hits Sexy Boy
and Kelly Watch the Stars, brought
immediate recognition from the public and the media,
especially in England, Japan, the United States and
Germany.
Their second album, called 10
000 Hz Legend, was released in May 2001.
This album included the involvement of Beck, and was
qualified as “more mature” than the previous album.
Reviews, particularly in France, greeted the album
as “a step in the right direction for music”.
Their new album, Talkie Walkie,
composed of 10 pop songs, comes close to a musical
essence of Air. At times, it recalls the
sophistication of Moon Safari, at others the
dark pain of The Virgin Suicides or
the futurist murmur of 10,000 Hz Legend.
Talkie Walkie will be released on 27
January 2004.
Between albums, Nicolas and
Jean-Benoît feel the need to turn to other artistic
horizons, and look for collaboration with others. In
2000, they composed the soundtrack for the first
film by Sofia Coppola, The Virgin Suicides,
which they released under their own label, Record
Makers. In the fall of 2003, they worked with
Italian author Alessandro Baricco to set the short
stories from his novel City to music. This
collaboration was originally intended for on-stage
performance, was finally recorded, producing the
record Air / Baricco: City Reading (Tre
Storie Western). This same quest for diversity
led them to plunge into the universe of Angelin
Preljocaj, composing the music for his new Ballet
Near Life Experience.
Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin
are above all full of passion for instruments
(guitars, pianos, old synthesizers), and stand out
in their unique way of integrating electronic
instruments in traditional compositions.
Today, Air’s ambition is to pursue
their search for the perfect sound and for timeless
composition.
Discography
(selected)
2004 –
Talkie Walkie (studio album)
2003 –
City Reading
(Tre Storie Western) (studio
collaboration with Alessandro Baricco)
2001 -
10,000 Hz.
Legend (studio album)
2000 –
The Virgin
Suicides (soundtrack of the film)
1999 –
Premier
Symptomes (compilation of singles)
1998 –
Moon Safari (studio album)
GILLES ROSIER÷
Costumes
As
soon as Gilles Rosier finished at the
“Chambre Syndicale de la Couture”, he was
offered an internship with Pierre Balmain.
For two years he was assigned the
responsibilities of assistant designer.
“Christian
Dior”
then hired him as designer for both the
prêt-à-porter collection and the Haute Couture
collection. He worked for two years with Marc
Bohan.
Sensitive to the evolution in fashion, to the
new movement, that of the avant-garde
“creators”, he left the world of Haute Couture
behind in order to work with the designers
focusing on current trends, such as Guy
Paulin, and Jean-Paul Gaultier, where
he worked for five years as the Assistant
Principal and the Studio head. He thus
participated in the development of Gaultier’s
brand, and threw himself into the Men’s and
Women’s collections. He worked with Jean-Paul
Gaultier in Italy where he adapted the
product to the demands of the Italian market.
The
brand “Léonard” invited him to modernize
their image and handed over the artistic
management of the men’s line to his talents.
Already well aware of the influence of sport on
Ready to Wear collections, Gilles Rosier took on
the role of Artistic Director for the Lacoste
firm, where he worked for 8 years.
Benefiting from his experience and expertise, he
then created his own brand, “Gilles Rosier”
and began to present his own creations, under
his own name, to the press and to the buyers.
With time, Gilles Rosier for women also came
into being.
Three years of creation was sufficient for the
LVMH group to approach him to take over
from Monsieur Kenzo Takada. He thus
became the Creative Director for the Women’s
Universe, and gradually brought in new life to
the Kenzo line while continuing to
officiate with talent for his own brand.
Today, Gilles Rosier for women exists.
The international press and the most demanding
buyers recognize him and his brands.
PATRICK
RIOU
Lighting
After several
years of studies at the Conservatory of Music in
Toulon, and training in making stringed
instruments, Patrick Riou started his career in
the performing arts working with the
choreographer François Verret.
He then
discovered a deep passion for dance, working
with the great lighting designers such as Rémy
Nicolas, Jacques Chatelet, Pierre Colomère…
These experiences enabled him to work in the
highly diverse choreographic worlds of Joseph
Nadj, François Raffinot, Karine Saporta, Kubilaï
Khan Investigation, Catherine Berbessous,
Philippe Genty and Angelin Preljocaj, for whom
he signed the lighting design for Personne
n’épouse les méduses, Portraits in Corpore,
Helikopter and MC 14/22.
This collaboration is continuing this year with
the performance of Near Life Experience.
PRESS REVIEW /
Angelin Preljocaj presented his
ballet at the Palafenice, the immense tented
theater set up as you enter Venice …
Near Life Experience
was a veritable triumph. The public was on their
feet, clapping as if there was no tomorrow.
Faithful to his
guiding principle, the choreographer has created
a work which resembles nothing he has done
before, though certain elements of his style and
vocabulary are recognizable. This abstract
ballet tells no story. It proposes a series of
tableaux of stunning beauty.
Dancers come
together in magnificent duos, harmonious small
groups, or form, all together, friezes and group
compositions, still as antique marble. […]
Near Life Experience
opens with a magnificent athlete descending from
the referee’s chair, acrobatically, exquisitely
slowly, followed by one of the most beautiful
scenes of the ballet. Here a girl, taken captive
by three boys, hand-in-hand, is continually
recaptured as she attempts to flee, to take
flight. A scene treated like a game of desire,
with no brutality whatsoever …
René Sirvin
Le Figaro, 14
July 2003
…Everything
takes place gently, slowly. No sudden action
comes to interrupt the logic of vanishing, of
disappearance …
The bodies,
clothed in the costumes by Gilles Rosier, true
flesh-coloured skins, are delicately lit up.
Here man has abandoned all pretention – no
prowess, no heroic feats. The dance itself is
silky, ample, calm, even down to the movements
on the floor. Nothing provokes the spectator, or
calls attention to itself. Even the leaps are
innocent, without a snag. Mischievous and
stealthy, they are vital rebounds.
At a time when
non-dance, technology and theatricality have
taken center stage, it feels absolutely
wonderful to see true choreographic expression.
Marie-Christine
Vernay
Libération, 31
May 2003
