Journal dun inconnu (The journal of an unknown)
This is the first solo Josef Nadj has made for himself in 15 years of choreography. In it, he is accompanied by the words of the Hungarian poet Otto Tolna - and by a lifetime of his own thoughts, experiences, insights and intuitions.
Journal dun inconnu - Journal of an unknown person of a stranger is the enigmatic title that presses us to ask who is this person. Josef Nadj provides a few keys to solving this enigma. He evokes three of his closest acquaintances from when he was a student at Budapests school of fine arts. One a painter, another a sculptor. They suddenly committed suicide. The third went to Rome where he destroyed an artwork with blows from a hammer. These three characters voluntarily turning towards death or madness make up the Inconnu whose journal Nadj undertakes. Many signs in the solo echo the realities of these biographies. But above all, beyond the stories of these three characters, the Unknown in question is that of artistic creation prowling the outskirts of madness and death.
One of the truly original artistic voices in Europe, Josef Nadj was born in 1957 in Kanjiza, in Vojvodina, a region of ex-Yugoslavia. He attended art school and the University of Budapest where he almost accidentally began to take theatre classes whilst continuing his training in martial arts. On the advice of his drama teacher, he left Budapest for Paris where he arrived in 1980. Thinking that he had gone there to involve himself in theatre, he discovered dance and quickly came to share the different choreographic worlds of Mark Tompkins, Catherine Diverrs and Franois Verret.
He founded his company in 1986 and a year later choreographed Canard Pkinois [Peking Duck], inspired by souvenirs of his hometown. This first piece underlined the duality of an approach mixing theatre and dance. It became his calling card in preparing the ground for an internationally recognized oeuvre that has as much to do with his former Eastern European roots as his supportive environment in France.
"For 60 minutes, the atmosphere is filled with disconcerting beauty, as Nadj lays himself bare, body and soul, to present his vision, his truth and the party spirit.Nadj is probably a genius. He creates, in his own way, a world, a little bit like Pina Bausch."
Coproduction Centre Chorgraphique National dOrlans, Biennale de Venise, Thtre de la Ville - Paris. Cration la Biennale de Venise le 6 juin 2002
Le Centre Chorgraphique National dOrlans est subventionn par le Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication - D.M.D.T.S - D.R.A.C du Centre, la Ville dOrlans, le Conseil Rgional du Centre, le Conseil Gnral du Loiret. Il reoit laide de lAFAA (Association Franaise dAction Artistique - Ministre des Affaires Etrangres) pour ses tournes ltranger.