The Whole
and Its Parts

For Guy Nader & Maria Campos' work at Staatstheater Kassel, the core concept was an image of a prehistoric oceanic blue hole located off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean Sea. A natural formation of total depth and total light, simultaneously floor and sky, surface and void. To create a whole, you collect the parts. I felt that this natural geological wonder was the best metaphor for this production.

The set is built around a single luminous square 10×10M platform that weighs around 360kg: a large rectangular surface that moves and functions both as stage floor and as a suspended ceiling element, creating a mirrored spatial logic that places the performers inside a field of pure light — an invisible box, a metaphor for narrative suspense that keeps audiences engaged through withheld information and delayed revelation. The platform's geometry — tilted, floating, bordered by precise LED edges — shifts the audience's perception of scale and gravity throughout the performance. A light formation coded "Ghost" feels like an extra character trapped inside the light installation, participating, reacting and morphing into a spirit of the choreography alongside a stellar cast of dancers.

The Costume Design concept follows exactly the same principles of chromatic neutrality punctuated by saturation: performers in tonal greys and baby blues, in industrial minimalistic designs with prominent hardware details, allow for strong silhouettes and heavenly bodies to move, twist and fly — then resolve into weightless figures. As the light design shifts and recalibrates, so does the choreography. Nothing in this piece is decorative. Everything is structural. Everything is symbolic. Everything leads to a contemporary classic.