Chiroptera

DARKNESS HOLDS THE GRACE OF THE LIGHT

On November 12th, 2023, the vast cavern covering the facade of the Palais Garnier came to life with CHIROPTERA, a project by JR, Damien Jalet, and Thomas Bangalter. 

Twenty-five thousand spectators filled the Place de l’Opéra to watch Amandine Albisson, a principal ballerina at the Paris Opera, open the entrance to the cave with her looming, anthropomorphous shadow. For one night only, JR’s Act II – Retour à la caverne installation became a stage curtain that opened to unveil 153 dancers covering scaffolding thirty meters in the air. A stunning performance choreographed by Damien Jalet with music by Thomas Bangalter, CHIROPTERA explored the allegories presented in Act I and II of Retour à la caverne.

“In these last weeks, we have seen so much darkness around us that all of us, the artists, and dancers, stopped and asked ourselves: What good is dancing? What good is creating? What good is putting on a show in front of the Opéra, with all this darkness around us? But our role as artists is always to search for the light. And we know this much: you don’t chase away the darkness with more darkness; you chase away the darkness with light, however tiny,” said JR, as also reported by the French Minister of Culture, Rima Abdulmalak.

Regarding the title: “Chiroptera” refers to bats, the only order of mammals that has the ability to fly.

CHIROPTERA 

A project created by JR, Damien Jalet and Thomas Bangalter
With Amandine Albisson, Étoile dancer of the Paris national Opera

And

Azuli Anastasio, Sara Andrieu, Matthew Antonucci, Judith Arazi, Gautier Asensi, Maryna Ashotivna, Jade Barkati-Martial, Alexia Barré, Irina Bashuk, Thea Bautista, Ismaël Belabid-Lenoir, Sophie Blet, Lara Bonnel, Eve Bouchelot, Marie Bruel, Clara Brunet, Ilona Cabrera, Coralie Calfond, Daniela Carler, Mariano Carluccio, Louise Carrière, Verdiano Cassone, Elena Cattardico, Mélen Cazenave, Yumio Chanoki, Manon Chapuis, Elia Chataigner, Hung-Ling Chen, Simon Chereze, Camille Cibrot, Alex Clair, Tiago Coelho, Margaux  Colemonts, Pietro Conti Milani, Lou Couton, Sebastian Cuiza Galan, Laure D’Eszlary, Odéric Daluz, Pavel Danko, Noé, Amélie De Figueiredo, Miguel De Sousa, Zoé De Reynier, Inês De Vilhena, Domitille Demaret, Fanny Didelot, Sophia Dinkel, Shirley Domoison Capello, Evane Duguet, Vladimir Duparc, Anaëlle Echalier, Even Eileraas, Axel Escot, Hajiba Fahmy, Solenn Favre, Giulia Federico, Ludivine Ferrara, Elsa Ferret, Lisa Fleury, Anne Fotso, Julie Franken, Louka Gailliez, Eve Ganneau, Marie Gibaud, Ludmila Gilles, Andrea Givanovitch, Nikita Goile, Valentin Goniot, Thomas Gounot, Emma Guillet, Camille Hinsinger, Ange-Clémentine Hiroki, Daria Hordiichuk, Valérie Igolnikov, Sonia Ivashchenko, Pepe Jaimes, Matthieu Jean, Tramayne Johnson-Pauillac, Mary Katakura, Natacha Kierbel, Jordan Kindell, Polina Kliuchnikova, Maharu Kumakawa, , Aimée Lagrange, Claire Lamothe, Lou Landré, Maeva Lassere, Isabel Le Cras, Charlotte Le Hir, Margaux Le Roy, Yi-Chi Lee, Alexis Lemoine, Laura Lille, Mickael Lips, Alice Llorente, Matteo Lochu, Deborah Lotti, Raphaël Ludon, Sarah Lutz, Dayana Mankovska, Camille Marchand, Isidora Markovic, Elena Martello, Pauline Martin, Matteo Masson, Marien Mazzoni, Lola Mérieux, Aurore Mettray, Félicia Monod, Marion Morlier, Maïlee Mouttou, Maureen Mouttou, Antonin Muno, Nicole Muratov, Alexandre Nadra, Devon Nelson, Sakiko Oishi, Hugo Olagnon, Alice Pan, Camilla Paris, Daisy Phillips, Joana Pimentel, Fiona Pincé, Vilim Poljanec, Romane Postel, Tara Prosser, Giulia Quacqueri, Elín Signý Ragnarsdóttir, Mohana Rapin, Paul Redier, Pauline Richard, Roberta Riontino, Semina Rizou, Matias Rocha Moura, Cristina Roggerini, Mona Roucan, Lola Ruscica, Iman Sahli, Emma Segura, Anastasia Senikova, Yanis Siah, Kayleigh Smerud, Yui Sugano, Alice Sundara, Astrid Sweeney, Hugo Thabaret, Flora Theault, Pierre-Adrien Touret, Marine Tournet, Inès Tressens, Mattéo Trutat, Anaïs Vallières, Myana Van Cuijlenborg, Pol Van Den Broek, Théo Vanpoperinghe, Anabelle Villechenoux, Amandine Villeneuve

Creative Director: Camille Pajot

Executive Producer: Maud Malfettes

Film directed and produced by CHANEL

Set design – JR

Choreography – Damien Jalet

Assistant for Choreography – Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern assisted by Lola Ruscica, Valentin Goniot

Sound Creation and Music – Thomas Bangalter

Music Recording – Florian Lagatta – Tecnica Musica

Costumes Creation – CHANEL

Executive Producer Atelier JR – Marc Azoulay

Artistic Producer for choreography – Jamila Hessaïne, assisted by Margot Thery

Studio Manager – Soizic Marceau

Production Manager – Valentin Crépain

Administrative Financial – Julie Bergon

Coordinator Production Administrator – Géraldine Weiss

Production Assistants – Maëlle Bossé, Charline Peiron, Milo Welsh

Help to auditions – Shoreh Belfond, Alexandre Nadra

Legal Advices – Michèle Mergui, Naomi Taklifi

Technical Direction – Raymond Lopez, Antoine d’Halluin

Stage Management  – Kalou Bornet, Vincent Lozouet

Technical Coordination – Liza Ayad, Maité Waag

General Artistic Management – Victor Burel, François Leneveu

Sound Management – Papa John, Quentin Vernier Palliez

Additional Recording  – Wilfried Lasbleiz

Light Management – Aldo, Simon Fouillet, Paul Biencourt

Video Management – Melvyn Bonnaffé, Baptiste Cornu, Timothée Girault, Eliott Fournié,  Anouk Guerbert

Scaffolding Security Team – Kevin Theraud

and – Abderrahman Benabila, Matthias Berghe, Nicolas Bruneau, Ismael El Bouazzati, Mohamed Berrached, Anthony Geslot, Milo Leclercq, Jérôme Leroy, Rémi Lopes Robalo, Hugo Malfilatre, Nicolas Milliez, Richard Muya Ekowa, Franck Rey, Jalal El Berkani, Florian Taillez, Elie Taillieu, Ihsane Mesli, Franck Vandekerckhove, Mickael Verhee

Set Construction – Matthieu Botrel

Dressers – Marine Baney, Yan Cadran, Laurène Foulquier

Drone Driver – Gary Bialas

Atelier JR

Alison Baldo, Marco Berrebi, Quentin Besnard, Mauve Chalandon, Laura Da Cunha, Damariz Damken, Marcelo De Souza Barbosa, Aymeric Gâcon, Émile Herlemont, Carmen Lawrence, Marie Planel, Camille Rousselet, Marie-Dominique Plumejeau Tapin, Inès Thiolat, Simon Sabotier,  Luana Saltiel,  Jaime Scatena,  Elodie Terraccian