FR
♥ I donate
Back to programming
Close
What are you looking for?

José Navas

Compagnie Flak
AVES
Show
2024/2025
Montreal

Solitude and solo

Dancing his life on stage, choreographer and dancer José Navas opens his heart and soul as he shares memories of his late partner. A luminous and touching homage.

In a series of six autobiographical solos, Navas pays tribute to William Douglas (1953–1996). Felled by AIDS in the prime of life, Douglas was renowned for the architectural elegance and intelligence of his award-winning choreographic works. The culmination of their artistic relationship, While Waiting, choreographed by Douglas and performed by Navas, earned them a Bessie Award in New York in 1994. On a bare stage, Navas tells their story in fluid dance, calling up his memories to music of James Brown, Billie Holiday, Bach, PJ Harvey, Dorothy Moore, Satie, and birdsong from the Amazon rainforest. A liberating show; an understated and heartfelt ritual. Deeply moving.

Sasha Onyshchenko. Dancer José Navas.
Jeff Busby. Dancer José Navas.
Sasha Onyshchenko. Dancer José Navas.
Sasha Onyshchenko. Dancer José Navas.

Artists

Choreographer
José Navas

Founder and artistic director of Compagnie Flak since 1995, José Navas carries out his overall artistic approach in three distinct ways: he dances with intensity in solo shows charged with emotion, he constructs abstract and captivating group pieces, and he creates pieces of contemporary ballet with classicism and sensitivity.

Read more

Credits

AVES

Choreographer and dancer José Navas.

Lighting Marc Parent.

Costumes José Navas.

Costume design Sonya Bayer, L'Atelier de couture Sonya B.

Technical Direction Marc Parent.

Production Compagnie Flak in coproduction with Theater im Pumpenhaus (Münster, Germany) and Danse Danse (Montreal).

Production Direction and Development Adrien Bussy.

Premiere De Schakel, Waregem (Belgium), October 26, 2022.

“A wonderfully moving experience. […] A truly exceptional night of dance.”
The Age,
Melbourne
Dancing with an accent
“I recognized when I arrived to Canada that I had an accent in my dancing, the same way as I roll my R’s possibly in French and in English” What is the accent like? “The way I move always had something more round or something more fluid in the connectivity. The moment that I started to abandon myself into that way of dancing, then I found my voice and instead of trying to erase it, I dance with that accent. And that actually made my career.” —Art Is My Country, CBC
Watch Jose Navas at Art is my Country
"In my current research, I try to return to the simplest, clearest, and purest way of creating movement to see if, from there, we’re able to speak of our contemporary selves."
José Navas
Love songs to Bill
This documentary traces the genesis of AVES, José Navas's tribute to William Douglas.
watch documentary
"If you take the movements as word, and take the time to construct, poems will emerge. After all, if you go to see art, it’s for that, isn’t it? To be able to leave the theatre and say to yourself: My life has changed, a little."
José Navas
Do not miss
Show
Compagnie Philippe Saire
Hocus Pocus
Philippe Saire
Show 2024/2025
Compagnie Philippe Saire
Hocus Pocus
Philippe Saire

From the clouds to the depths of the ocean, the adventures of two illusionist dancers. A poetic coming-of-age story imagined by choreographer Philippe Saire, a pioneer of Swiss contemporary dance.

Show
Marco da Silva Ferreira
CARCAÇA
Show 2024/2025
Marco da Silva Ferreira
CARCAÇA

The new darling of the European dance scene, Portuguese choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira presents his most ambitious work, celebrating the contemporary body with phenomenal intensity.

Show
Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève
Ihsane
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Show 2025/2026
Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève
Ihsane
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

A monumental work, Ihsane is a stunning initiatory quest featuring some twenty performers, a vocal duo, and an instrumental ensemble at the crossroads of the Middle East and the West.

Show
Hofesh Shechter Company
Theatre of Dreams
Hofesh Shechter
Show 2025/2026
Hofesh Shechter Company
Theatre of Dreams
Hofesh Shechter

Acclaimed time and again by Danse Danse audiences, Hofesh Shechter and his formidable tribe take us on a dizzying dive, headfirst, into a fantasy world where dreams and reality collide. Quite an event!

Show
KOMOCO
Pupo
Sofia Nappi
Show 2025/2026
KOMOCO
Pupo
Sofia Nappi

At the forefront of European dance, Sofia Nappi displays her talent in an initiation rite with an irresistible groove, inspired by the famous puppet that has enchanted our childhood.

Show
Côté Danse
Burn Baby, Burn
Guillaume Côté
Show 2025/2026
Côté Danse
Burn Baby, Burn
Guillaume Côté

After bringing us his Hamlet, blending dance and theatre and created with Robert Lepage, choreographer Guillaume Côté sets the stage alight with his latest work for nine performers.

Show
Compagnie Hervé Koub
Sol Invictus
Hervé Koubi
Show 2025/2026
Compagnie Hervé Koub
Sol Invictus
Hervé Koubi

In a blaze of energy, 17 artists from around the world display an exhilarating collective momentum. Sol Invictus is a universal declaration of love for dance.