Nahasdzáán in the Glittering World

This music evolved from my collaboration with the Navajo poet Laura Tohe who resides in Arizona. Through our interpretation of the sacred stories and healing ceremonies of the Navajo Indians, we would like to draw attention to the dramatic wounds which human beings have inflicted on ‘Nahasdzáán’ [Mother Earth], at the same time displaying the force of the Navajo concept of ‘Hozho’, uniting harmony, health and beauty in a single entity.

Luc Petton’s choreography incorporates living animals (an eagle, owls and wolves) which act onstage alongside the dancers and singers. At the end of the ritual which evokes mythological figures of the Navajo, the animals remain apprehensive: what new worlds will human beings create to save the earth and avoid catastrophe? Thierry Pécou