How do you make a substantial dance performance out of mist? That was the question that faced choreographer Damien Jalet, artist Kohei Nawa, and designer Sruli Recht as they developed their new project for Nederlands Dans Theater.
Their answer is seen in Mist, an operatic video depicting cadaverous dancers writhing in and out of plumes of smoke inspired by the thick ‘Dutch fog’ that comes off the North Sea.
Mist dance performance
The show is one of a series of three collaborations between Jalet and Nawa, beginning with 2016’s critically acclaimed Vessel, which saw dancers engage in the staccato, almost primordial movements that have characterised Jalet’s previous work; he has also worked with film director and Wallpaper* Design Awards judge Luca Guadagnino on horror movie Suspiria, and his opera Pelleas et Melisande (with a set by Marina Abramović). Jalet’s choreography for Mist is more fluid than his previous work, with elastic, undulating movements that are accentuated by costumes designed by Sruli Recht.
Recht’s designs for Mist are a technical marvel. The skin-tight, whisper-thin costumes are made out of fabric spun from spider silk so that they cling to the body like clouds. Recht is no stranger to working with unconventional materials, having previously made clothes from fragments of the oldest meteorite to have landed on Earth, leather made from dolphin skin, skunk fur, and aluminium-infused lambskin. Yet, working with spider silk proved a particularly intricate problem.
To make it work, Recht and his atelier partner Flavia Bon made an entirely new type of material by knitting the filament into fabric-like sheets and then fitting them to each dancer’s body. The final result is, as Recht puts it, ‘a costume as light as mist, as graphic as anatomy, as elegant as choreographic motion, and strong enough to be punished through movement over time’.
Mist debuted on the Nederlands Dans Theater website in January 2022.
INFORMATION
-
Celine’s new fragrance Zou Zou is inspired by 1960s heroinesCeline debuts a new fragrance, Zou Zou, inspired by Hedi Slimane’s obsession with 1960s youth culture
-
Bar Spero, in Washington DC, nods to the playful nature of Spanish cuisineBar Spero is a Spanish seafood bar and grill designed by Streetsense and led by chef Johnny Spero
-
Colourful card game wins Design Museum’s Design Ventura competitionAnnual design competition Design Ventura was won by students from The Piggott School, who created a fun I Spy-inspired card game
-
Wayne McGregor’s new work merges genetic code, AI and choreographyCompany Wayne McGregor has collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a series of works, ‘Autobiography (v95 and v96)’, at Sadler’s Wells (12 – 13 March 2024)
-
The Royal Ballet celebrates new talent in choreography with edgy set designThe Royal Ballet Festival of New Choreography encompasses performances and events at the Royal Opera House in London
-
Stephen Galloway on turning movement into magicCreative movement director Stephen Galloway, photographed here by Paul Mpagi Sepuya, on making the magic happen, from turning up Mick Jagger ‘150 per cent’ to creating the moves that sent Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ video viral
-
The world’s first AI ballet has arrived, and it's setting the bar highThe first-ever AI ballet is here, directed and composed by speech artist and musician Harry Yeff (AKA Reeps100), and performed by the Leipzig Ballet
-
Amsterdam photography exhibitions: what not to missWe spotlight the best Amsterdam photography exhibitions to visit this Autumn
-
‘Punk ballerina’ Karole Armitage debuts a genre-bending show in New YorkKarole Armitage, the choreographer behind Madonna’s Vogue video and Marc Jacobs’ A/W 2021 show, debuts A Pandemic Notebook at New York Live Arts
-
Dance Reflections: progressive new festival blends art and movementThe inaugural edition of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival marks a bold new fixture on the performing arts calendar. In London from 9 – 23 March 2022, the initiative has been conceived in collaboration with Sadler’s Wells, the Royal Opera House and Tate Modern. Here’s what to expect
-
Wayne McGregor and Random International collaborate on futuristic dance performancePresented by BMWi and Superblue during Frieze London 2021, No One is an Island is an arresting yet hypnotic dance performance confronting the relationship between man and machine
