From Kanjiza, in Vojvodina, ex-Yugoslavia, Josef Nadj settled in France at the beginning of the 1980s to hone is acting skills. He discovered contemporary dance with François Verret, Catherine Diverrès and Mark Tompkins and started up his own theatre company, Jel. The originality of his first show in 1987, called Canard Pékinois – an animal-fable comedy in the form of a puzzle – was highly-praised. Since then the choreographer, stage director and plastician has created one piece after another. In 1995, he was appointed as director of the Centre Chorégraphique National d'Orléans, and since then he has produced about twenty pieces. The inspiration for the main body of his work is drawn from his native village, but most of his creations are inspired by the work of his favourite authors such as Gesa Csath, Comedia Tempio (1990), Franz Kafka, Les Veilleurs (1999), Bruno Schulz, Les Philosophes (2001), and Raymond Rousse, Poussière de Soleils (2004). At the same time, he put on a number of exhibitions and installations such as sculptures on the theme of time, photography, drawings and miniatures which are like sketches in a creation logbook. Laboratories of vision or metaphysical mazes, irony is present in all Josef Nadj's works. They result from a ritual of the absurd, maintaining a number of different links between life and death, between what is living and what inanimate, between marvels and matter. Josef Nadj will be the Associate Artist for the 60th Avignon Festival in 2006. He has presented Les Echelles d'Orphée based on Les Chants by Wilhem d'Otto Tolnei in 1992, Le Cri du Caméléon et Les Commentaires d'Habacuc in 1996, Woyzeck ou L'Ebauche du Vertige based on the work by Büchner in 1997, Petit Psaume du Matin as part of the Vif du Sujet programme in 1999, Le Temps du Repli in 2001 and Les Philosophes based on the work by Bruno Schultz in 2002.
Look with the whole body, like a painter, transpose a vision, create a show from that experience. This is what Josef Nadj is trying to do together with composer-percussionist Vladimir Tarasov. On the stage, images replace words, while a captivating dialogue weaves itself between music and dance. The musician-impro artist arranges his sounds and rhythms in a number of variations. The choreographer-dancer describes a subtle world with gestures and masks. His dance is a strange one. It seems to come from far away, capturing the small, physical, almost archaic movements which precede the creation of a work. From sequences to paintings, the space is constantly changing with the use of shadow and light, curious materials and surfaces, closing and distancing effects. Beyond time and with an enchanted rapport with objects that define his world, Josef Nadj choreographs each impulse behind each gesture. He restores the sketch. A man facing a landscape. Last Landscape, the last one. A self-portrait. The origin of this show is real place, a place which has marked the choreographer since his childhood. Near his home village in ex-Yugoslavia. There is a wild, desert-like and clay-earth area of land. In the past it was the home for nomadic tribes, and it is said that it has a miraculous source which is the subject of many took root. In a completely abstract way, with the mysterious sense of signs which is found in all his pieces, the artist performs his own journey. Facing the landscape, he wonders about the two-pronged aspect of his approach. Behind the man on stage is a plastician. So gradually, the actor fades and leaves matter, colour and energy to draw their own, different landscape.
Distribution
choreography Josef Nadj
cast : Josef Nadj ,Vladimir Tarasov
music : Vladimir Tarasov
lighting : Rémi Nicola
props : Michel Tardif
masks : Jacqueline Bosson
video : Thierry Thibaudeau
texts : Myriam Bloede
Production
Une première étape : de ce spectacle a été présentée le 12 avril 2004 à Nevers à la suite d'une commande de “D'jazz à Nevers”.
Coproduction : Centre chorégraphique national d'Orléans, Festival d'Avignon, Emilia Romagna teatro Fondazione (Modène)