Mirage de 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 marks the fourth chapter of his collaboration with Japanese visual artist Kohei Nawa. Following VESSEL (2016), Mist (2021) and Planet [wanderer] (2023; 2021 at GTG), they continue their exploration of the ever-changing nature of living beings, merging their respective disciplines and bringing the human body into contact with different materials.

Inspired by the phenomenon of mirages and fata morgana (optical illusions associated with weather conditions, caused by the distortion of light as it passes through layers of air at different temperatures), Damien Jalet and Kohei Nawa portray a wandering humanity in a metaphorical desert, searching for itself.

Through a series of transformations, the piece gradually strips away the performers’ layers, one by one, exploring an infinite range of physical and emotional states. At times evoking the spectres of a civilisation on the edge of a dry well, at others infused with the dazzling colours and sensuality of tropical nature, Mirage unfolds on stage like a waking dream, shifting and floating, shaped by atmospheric phenomena.