SIFA 2026 :: 'Planet [wanderer]'

I was so pleased to be able to make it to Damien Jalet and Kohei Nawa's 'Planet [wanderer]'. I watched their first collaboration 'VESSEL' when it premiered in Kyoto in 2016 at the redeveloped-new ROHM Theatre (Kyoto Kaikan). I was absolutely blown away. It remained one of the most memorable contemporary dances I have watched. 

'Planet [wanderer]' is a stunningly gorgeous show. Surreal, fragile, overwhelming and yet strong. I don't even know how the choregraphy was imagined and brought to life. French-Belgian choreographer and dancer Damien Jalet is known for his strong visions for modern dances and bold presentations. The dancers were magnificent. Talented and precise, I almost forgot that they are humans. They were like... humanoids, or new human bodies inhabiting a new-old world. 

This dance is both a performance choreography and a visual art in a perfect partnership. It was such a glorious hour. I can't compare 'VESSEL' and 'Planet [wanderer]'. They're not exactly separate, yet they are distinct. This show felt like a continuation of how we explore this cosmic tension of creation myths versus the harsh realities of the human world. 

The first collaboration between Kohei Nawa and Damien Jalet was Vessel, which premiered in 2016 at ROHM Theatre Kyoto, creating a portrait of two worlds from the Kojiki, the oldest Japanese book: Yomi (the underworld of the dead) and Takamagahara (the Plain of High Heavens where the gods dwell). 

Planet[wanderer] takes place in the world in between those two: Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, the Central Land of the Reeds—the world we inhabit. The human being is but a reed, the feeblest one in nature and the performance captures that oscillation in a fragile balance between power and vulnerability, harmony and survival, evolution and destruction. The subtitle gestures toward the Greek etymological root of “planet” as meaning a wanderer. Planet[wanderer] conjures up a unique world onstage as imagined by a Japanese sculptor and European choreographer: a liminal place between the living and the dead, showcasing the constituent elements of the human body and the cosmos as well as their inseparable relationship with gravity. 

The music too. I wished it could have been louder. That would have really completed the show. Canadian composer Tim Hecker's synths were amazing. The performance blends Tim Hecker's signature heavy electronic drones, reverb, and noise with the traditional tones of Japanese gagaku instruments. His music placed the dancers and even the audience smack into this creation myth in the 'Kojiki' (古事記). 

The set design is amazing. The logistics were impressive. We were totally transported into a surreal and planetary landscape right from the start. Polyurethane foam, starch and mineral powder, silicone oil and viscous gel are all scenographer and sculptor Kohei Nawa's signature use of modern, earth-like, and semi-liquid mediums. They represent shifting cosmic textures, meteor dust, and primordial fluids to explore humanity's fragile relationship with the planet. The dancers interact with the landscape as it physically changed and modified as the piece progressed.

'VESSEL' (2016) introduced us to The Realm which represents the first two levels of the creation of the world — Yomi (the Underworld) and Takamagahara (the heavens where the gods dwell). The set design utilized sculptural forms, isolating lighting to give the illusion of floating, fragmented bodies coming out of an abyss. Stark and otherworldly. 

We were taken to the third and final level of The Realm in 'Planet [wanderer]' — Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni (the middle land of reed plains), which refers to the earthly human world. Then there's The Body. We explore how The Body holds human vulnerability, as though we are reeds, and each generation dancing between survival, evolution, and destruction on this planet.

Curtain call with Damien Jalet.