José Navas, photo : Alex Tran

José Navas

Founder and artistic director of Compagnie Flak, 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. As guest choreographer for prestigious ballet companies, he created an iconoclastic version of Giselle (2013) for Ballet BC, Watershed (2013) for the National ballet of Canada, and Dénouement/Auflösung (2015) for the German company tanzmainzHe has performed his latest solo show, Rites, many times in Europe and Quebec. An Associate Dance Artist of the National Arts Centre, José Navas has presented his work in 30 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

José Navas began his choreographic career in 1991 and was quickly recognized on the international scene as a talented and charismatic soloist. His first group creations were characterized by their assertive sensuality, bold statements and unexpected universes. These pieces included an element of theatricality that is reflected today only in his solo work. Since 2005, Navas has opted for sobriety and the pursuit of pure movement, giving his artistic approach two distinct directions.

As a dancer, José has devoted himself entirely to his passion for solo work, exploiting the wealth of his maturity to create more personal, sensitive works, with transcendent musicality. As a choreographer of group work, he has an entirely different voice. Fascinated by the resonance of the body in space and by the calligraphy of formal movement, the choreographer shows himself to be an architect in his group pieces. A worthy successor of Cunningham, he constructs abstract pieces geometrically, which are always delivered by virtuoso performers. His choreographic scores, created in a similar manner to a musical composition, fascinate the viewer with the successive structures they reveal in the space. They are characterized by their hypnotic beauty and their meditative character and sometimes by the vivacity and playfulness of the movement that points discreetly behind the sleek lines and technical prowess.

With a beautiful visual aesthetic, creations such as Portable Dances, Anatomies, and S reflect his architectural sense of composition while the solos in Miniatures and Personae arouse feelings of a more visceral nature. With more than thirty creations to his credit, Sterile Fields (1996), One Night Only 3/3 (1998), Perfume de Gardenias (2000), Solo with Cello (2001) and Adela, mi amor (2004) represent landmarks on his choreographic journey.