Damien Jalet

As an independent choreographer and dancer, French-Belgian Damien Jalet's work moves from major international collaborations to more personal projects. His works, which are often collaborative, testify to the power of dance to constantly reinvent itself in dialogue with other disciplines, such as the visual arts, music, cinema, and fashion.

He has worked as both a dancer and choreographer for such diverse companies as les ballets C de la B, Sasha Waltz & Guests, Chunky Move, Eastman, NYDC, Hessisches Staatsballetts, the Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris, Scottish Dance Theatre, Icelandic Dance Company, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, etc.

For the stage, he has created the works: "Babel(words)" (2010) with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, which won two Laurence Olivier Awards in 2011; "Boléro" (2013) and "Pelléas et Mélisande" (2018) with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Marina Abramović; "Inked" (2013); "Les Médusés" (2013); "YAMA" (2014); "Gravity Fatigue" (2015); "VESSEL" (2015) with Kohei Nawa; "Thr(o)ugh" (2016); "Skid" (2017); "Omphalos" (2018). With French actor and stage director Arthur Nauzyciel, he has collaborated on several theatrical works such as "L’Image" (2006), "Julius Caesar" (2008), "Ordet" (2008), "Red Waters" (2011), "Jan Karski" (2011), "La Mouette" (2012), "Splendid’s" (2015), "La Dame aux camélias" (2018), "Mes frères" (2020), and "Les Paravents" (2023).

His film credits include a collaboration with director Gilles Delmas to create "The Ferryman" in 2016, with the participation of Marina Abramović and Ryūichi Sakamoto, a film presented at the Venice Biennale in 2017. In 2018, he choreographed Luca Guadagnino's remake of "Suspiria." The following year, he choreographed Paul Thomas Anderson's film "Anima" with Thom Yorke, who also composed the music; the film was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Musical and won a UK Music Video Award for Best Choreography. More recently, he created "Brise-lames" (2020) for the Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris with visual artist JR, pianist Koki Nakano, and dancer Aimilios Arapoglou. In collaboration with artist Kohei Nawa, with whom he had created "VESSEL," he made the film "Mist" for NDT1 and then created "Planet [wanderer]" at Chaillot Théâtre national de la Danse (2021); he also created "Kites" (2022) for GöteborgsOperans Danskompani.

In 2023, he choreographed "Emilia Perez," Jacques Audiard's first musical (due to release in 2024).

He also collaborated on specific sequences for Madonna's 2019-2020 theatrical tour, "Madame X," and he is choreographing several songs for her 2023-2024 show "The Celebration Tour," for which he is also a creative advisor.

In November 2023, he created “Chiroptera” in collaboration with JR and composer Thomas Bangalter (Daft Punk), a unique performance with Amandine Albisson, a prima ballerina with the Paris Opera Ballet, and 153 dancers on the scaffolding of the façade of the Paris Opera.

Damien Jalet was appointed Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in October 2022.