ODD 2024 - Parallel Program

Friday 23 February | 14:30-17:00 | Galaxy Studio (Galaxia 2, behind the building of the Onassis Stegi)

Iconoclastic choreographer and dancer Damien Jalet (Belgium/France) is internationally acclaimed for his monumental choreographies that serve as visual installations―from “Skid,” in which 17 performers defy gravity by dancing on a ten-meter sloping platform to the seminal piece "Chiroptera" with 154 dancers on the façade of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. He has also worked as a choreographer for Madonna, Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Anima” films, and has collaborated with such artists as JR, Thom Yorke, Marina Abramović, and Iris van Herpen.

In line with this year's theme of Onassis Dance Days, which highlights the relationship between music and choreography, Damien Jalet's masterclass at the Onassis Stegi will focus on his creative collaboration with composers such as Fennesz, Tim Hecker, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Thomas Bangalter, and Thom Yorke. He will talk about specific approaches, whether the music is pre-existing or is composed during or after the choreographic composition. Jalet will illustrate those different examples with a series of videos and drafts taken from his work archives. A participatory part of the workshop will also include an exploration of a series of rhythmical scores, giving the participants a sense of how a relatively simple notation canvas can lead to sculpting time in a complex way.

Admission is free and on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to submission through a participation form that will be available on Monday, 5th February, at onassis.org.

Available on the Onassis Channel on YouTube from February 26th at 12:00 pm

“CABIN 9” (12΄, 2022) is the first short film by dancer and choreographer Yiannis Nikolaidis, a project initially funded by the Greek Ministry of Culture during the pandemic era. It is the product of research into the application of choreographic methods and practices in the field of cinema. The film was shot in an isolated country house in Varympompi in March 2021 and was completed in the framework of the Onassis Fellowship under a production by the Shampoo films company.

What we have here is a DIY, handcrafted science fiction film.

Amid a dystopian winter, a man and a woman dressed in leather survival outfits live isolated in a country house shelter, seeking ways to communicate and coexist. As the film’s director puts it remarkably well, “They could both be the first or the last men and women of this world.”

The film completed its festival run by earning an honorable mention at the Video Art & Experimental Film Festival (VAEFF) 2022 in New York.