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
