31st Kalamata International Dance Festival-NAGELHUS SCHIA PRODUCTIONS/DAMIEN JALET-Thrice

Nagelhus Schia Productions (NSP) performs Thrice by renowned French-Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet at the Kalamata International Dance Festival 2025.

The production marks a new chapter in the collaboration between Damien Jalet and Nagelhus Schia Productions (NSP), following their critically acclaimed 2020 project DuEls at the Vigeland Museum in Oslo. That performance was later adapted into a film by director Jonas Åkerlund, which is currently being screened at film festivals worldwide.

This piece, like its name suggests, is a triptych. The number three is an important one, both in the work of Damien Jalet and in the references he cites, from Greek tragedy to Japanese theatre, mathematics to religion; past, present and future, body, mind and soul; matter, time and space. This number also recalls the elements that Octavio Paz summons in his poem Wind, Water, Stone. These fundamental, complementary components are gathered here in three sequences—Gusts, Médusés and Brise-lames — around a literal common ground. Indeed, during each new chapter, the performers roll out carpets, on the sides, then in the back of the stage, thus building a decor, or rather a portal to another dimension. Therefore, the wind, the sea and the water become the main characters holding this piece's timeless and evolving language: that of bodies attempting not to solidify.

Gusts, the first section, is about air—breath and movement, and pays homage to the force that carries us. With live music by acclaimed Norwegian saxophonist Bendik Giske, performing a newly commissioned original composition, Gusts becomes a dialogue between body and sound, highlighting the tension between gravity and centripetal force.

Médusés, the second chapter, takes its cue from the myth of Medusa and the idea of being petrified by a gaze. Here, bodies resist between rigidity and fluidity, the individual and the collective. The piece evolves from one of Jalet’s early iconic works, previously featured in DuEls.

Brise-lames, the final part, transports us underwater. Created in collaboration with visual artist JR and featuring live music composed and performed by renowned Japanese pianist Koki Nakano, the piece was first conceived during the pandemic in 2020 for nine dancers of the Paris Opera. Until now, it had only been accessible to the public as a film directed by Louise Narboni in close collaboration with Damien Jalet. In this, its first live performance, the movements are slow—like a ship approaching shore, or waves reaching land.

Thrice is a work in constant motion—a story of bodies attempting not to solidify. This project has allowed Damien Jalet to return to the founding principles of his work: a minimalist exploration of movement. His more recent creations have operated on a very grand scale, with ambitious scenography and apparatus. In Thrice, complexity lies elsewhere: in the movements, lights and sound, and the search for how combination, association and repetition might generate new emotions.