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José Navas founded Compagnie Flak in 1995 as a vehicle for the creation and performance of his own choreographies. Today, the company is also a research centre, and through its work with young choreographers, is significant to the development of contemporary dance. Compagnie Flak now has twenty original works in its repertoire and, as well as performing in more than twenty countries, has contributed to a number of award-winning dance films. Navas chooses to work with dancers from many different cultures in his audacious, emotional, fantastic creations. Compagnie Flak tours extensively, appearing at many of the world’s most prestigious venues for contemporary dance, including the Holland Dance Festival, Vienna’s ImPulsTanz Festival and London’s Dance Umbrella.
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Photo CreditsMagali Stoll, Chanti Wadge, Jamie Wright, Portable Dances, Compagnie Flak; photo: Michael Slobodian José Navas & Manuel Perez Torres, Perfume de Gardenias, Compagnie Flak; photo: Cylla von Tiedemann Jamie Wright, Adela, mi amor, Compagnie Flak; photo: Cylla von Tiedemann Photo of José Navas: Michel Laloux |
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Photo of José Navas: Michel Laloux |
Artistic Director
José Navas studied dance in his native Venezuela before studying at the Merce Cunningham Studio in New York, and he has worked with many notable choreographers, including William Douglas. He moved to Montreal in 1991 and worked as dancer and choreographer for a number of highly regarded companies before founding his own group and turning entirely to choreography. Charismatic, mercurial in motion, Navas creates dance that is elegant, formalistic in concept, illuminated by an aura of magical fantasy and a sense of universality. His commmissioned choreography includes a trio for Benoît Lachambre, created in 1997-98, and an octet created for Montréal Danse.
PORTABLE DANCES
October/2005/Montréal/Canada
70 minutes
4 dancers
José Navas, Choreographer
Alexander MacSween, Composer
Marc Parent, Lighting
José Navas, Costumes
Portable Dances (2005) - Portable Dances is a piece in three parts, working with the simplicity of movement and light. It includes a duet (Pas de Deux for four dancers), a solo by José Navas (Solo with Light) and a trio (Trio in White). Bodies in motion construct and deconstruct lines of movement across the space, abstract cartography. Between meditation and acceleration, fluidity and contrasts, they become traces, lines and characters. They seek the calligraphy of movement in what is simplest and most essential. Alexander MacSween has composed the soundtrack, using the voices of the dancers.
ADELA, MI AMOR
October/2003/Bruges/Belgium
60 minutes
6 dancers and 1 live composer
José Navas, Choreographer
Michael F. Côté, Composer
Marc Parent, Lighting
Liz Vandal, Costumes
Adela, mi amor (2003) - Adela, mi amor, is a work for seven performers plunged in a frenzy of movement. What is the origin of this force, of the animal tension that emerges? Is it the mere movement of the body? A sacred space opens, in which surely there is magic. Adela, mi amor presents an entirely feminine universe, inspired freely by Federico García Lorca’s play, La Casa de Bernarda Alba.
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