BABEL(words) takes as its starting point the specific moment in the tale of the Tower of Babel when God punishes those who built a tower in his name, causing chaos by splintering them into different languages, cultures and lands.

That is to say that on Day 1 of rehearsal, a microcosm of 18 performers from 13 countries, with 15 languages, 7 religious backgrounds and numerous performance modes between them, joined choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet, as well as visual artist Antony Gormley, to embark upon a new journey.

And it was in the swirling maelstrom of identity, nationhood, and culture that they found their inspiration. Where language is both verbal and physical, where it unites and divides, makes communication both possible and impossible, and is loaded with meaning at the same time as being profoundly meaningless.

Both in process and production, what grew was a city of multiplicity, a network of possibilities, where Gormley's huge 3-dimensional frames are raised, knocked down and transformed, as if made of nothing but our thoughts. Space is dissected and appropriated, creating territories, axes and borders that hint at the often random but sometimes deadly geo-political divisions of land, as well as evoking the boundaries and limitations we impose on ourselves and each other. But, of course, by also offering shelter and relief in a landscape of chaos and complexity, structures enable tender, private and intimate moments, without which none of us could survive.

The city is not dissimilar to the landscape French philosopher Michel de Certeau strolls through in his work ‘The Practice Of Everyday Life', where wanderers wander blindly, taking decisions by the millisecond, knowing not what they do, nor why they do it, what it means or where it will lead. People stumble into choices of belief, community and identity that as well as giving support - close doors, build boundaries and set limits.

And of course they build ivory towers, not just as a demonstration of status and wealth, but also in search of some kind of higher knowledge and enlightenment. The aerial view of, and distance from, those silent patterns far down below bring feelings of comfort, control and order, because as the old sign at the top of the Empire State building tells us - ‘it's hard to be down when you're up'!

Indeed Cherkaoui and Jalet's journey was informed by their own profound ‘belief in the belief that something matters' and their joint search for what that something might be. During the process the show revealed to its makers that what they were doing was turning the Tower of Babel upside down: what mattered was not the external multiplicity of our (regional, spiritual, linguistic, physical...) differences, but the underlying bond of what unites rather than divides us, and therefore the responsibilities we all share.

Source: Maison de la Danse programming

Damien Jalet is a French and Belgian freelance  choreographer and performer. Since 2000 he’s been working as the closest and most regular collaborator of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, within Les ballets C. de la B., Toneelhuis and Eastman vzw (he danced in "Rien de Rien", "Fo", "Tempus Fugit", "Myth" and recently "TeZukA").

In 2002 Jalet and Cherkaoui created "d’avant", together with Luc Dunberry and Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola, produced by Sasha Waltz and guests. Jalet and Cherkaoui also signed "Babel(words)". Damien Jalet also regularly works with Icelandic choreographer Erna Ómarsdóttir. Together they’ve been creating a number of works in collaboration with visual artist Gabriela Fridriksdóttir. Ómarsdóttir and Jalet also created "Black Marrow" for the renowned Australian company Chunky Move at the Melbourne international festival 2009.

In 2008 Jalet premiered "Three Spells" with dancer Alexandra Gilbert and composer Christian Fennesz for the Tokyo International Arts Festival. He also worked with other renowned choreographers, such as Wim Vandekeybus ("The day of heaven and hell") and Akram Khan (for whom he devised a solo segment in the piece "Desh")

Jalet has developed a big number of collaborations with high-level artists in different fields, such as theater director Arthur Nauzyciel, visual artists (Antony Gormley, Jim Hodges), musicians (Lady and Bird, Olof Arnalds, Florence + The Machine, Editors). He also worked with photographer Nick Knight and designer Bernhard Willhelm (the video "Men in tights") and with philosopher Giorgio Agemben and contemporary musician Stefano Scodanibio (the opera "Il cielo sulla terra").

In february 2013 he directed an important choreographic installation named "les médusés" in some of the greatest rooms of  Louvre museum in  Paris  with the participation of more than 30 artists from different disciplines. In Mai 2013 he creates in collaboration with Cherkaoui and legendary performance artist Marina Abramovic, a new version of Ravel's "Bolero" for the Paris Opera Ballet, the costumes were designed by Givenchy's artistic director Riccardo Tisci and the 11 dancer's cast included étoiles Aurélie Dupont, Marie Agnès Gillot and Jérémie  Bélingard.

Source : Damien Jalet’s website

More information : damienjalet.com

Author, filmmaker and video artist Charles Picq (1952-2012) entered working life in the 70s through theatre and photography. A- fter resuming his studies (Maîtrise de Linguistique - Lyon ii, Maîtrise des sciences et Techniques de la Communication - grenoble iii), he then focused on video, first in the field of fine arts at the espace Lyonnais d'art Contemporain (ELAC) and with the group « Frigo », and then in dance.
   On creation of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon in 1980, he was asked to undertake a video documentation project that he has continued ever since. During the ‘80s, a decade marked in France by the explosion of contemporary dance and the development of video, he met numerous artists such as andy Degroat, Dominique Bagouet, Carolyn Carlson, régine Chopinot, susanne Linke, Joëlle Bouvier and regis Obadia, Michel Kelemenis. He worked in the creative field with installations and on-stage video, as well as in television with recorded shows, entertainment and documentaries.

His work with Dominique Bagouet (80-90) was a unique encounter. He documents his creativity, assisting with Le Crawl de Lucien and co-directing with his films Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux and 10 anges. in the 90s he became director of video development for the Maison de la Danse and worked, with the support of guy Darmet and his team, in the growing space of theatre video through several initiatives:
       - He founded a video library of dance films with free public access. This was a first for France. Continuing the video documentation of theatre performances, he organised their management and storage.
       - He promoted the creation of a video-bar and projection room, both dedicated to welcoming school pupils.
       - He started «présentations de saisons» in pictures.
       - He oversaw the DVD publication of Le tour du monde en 80 danses, a pocket video library produced by the Maison de la Danse for the educational sector.

       - He launched the series “scènes d'écran” for television and online. He undertook the video library's digital conversion and created Numeridanse.

His main documentaries are: enchaînement, Planète Bagouet, Montpellier le saut de l'ange, Carolyn Carlson, a woman of many faces, grand ecart, Mama africa, C'est pas facile, Lyon, le pas de deux d'une ville, Le Défilé, Un rêve de cirque.

He has also produced theatre films: Song, Vu d'ici (Carolyn Carlson), Tant Mieux, Tant Mieux, 10 anges, Necesito and So schnell, (Dominique Bagouet), Im bade wannen, Flut and Wandelung (Susanne Linke), Le Cabaret Latin (Karine Saporta), La danse du temps (Régine Chopinot), Nuit Blanche (Abou Lagraa), Le Témoin (Claude Brumachon), Corps est graphique (Käfig), Seule et WMD (Françoise et Dominique Dupuy), La Veillée des abysses (James Thiérrée), Agwa (Mourad Merzouki), Fuenteovejuna (Antonio Gades), Blue Lady revistied (Carolyn Carlson).

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon