CHAILLOT / PARADE

The images focus on details, cracks, sections of walls, elements of statues, control room or workshop shots. The dancers enter confined spaces or seem trapped in them. A visible echo of what the pandemic is making the world experience. [...] The extravagant costumes imagined by Thomas Bradley transform the performers into strange creatures.

This expanding dimension of the costume is even more tangible in Chaillot Parade, the much more radical film shown as a prelude to the performance. Filmed during one of the lockdowns in the basements of Chaillot, it’s a whimsical and grotesque fashion show captured up close by Julia Gat, Emanuel Gat’s daughter, who is also a talented photographer.

It appears that talent runs deep and multifaceted in the Gat family. Thomas Bradley, in addition to performing in LOVETRAIN2020, also designed its exquisite costumes. These costumes take center stage in the film Chaillot Parade. [...] Their rich fabrics harmonize with the venue's striking architecture while creating a vivid contrast with its raw, hidden underground spaces and technical corners. The photography by Julia Gat—Emanuel’s daughter, showcased last summer at the Rencontres d’Arles—is stunning.

The performance is preceded by a twenty-minute film, Chaillot Parade, directed by Emanuel Gat and photographer Julia Gat, which starts with flawless close-ups of the statues and columns of the Palais de Chaillot before transitioning to a costume parade created by Thomas Alfred Bradley. [...] In the still and ceremonial images, which echo fashion magazine photos, the aesthetic of Lovetrain 2020 is present, but without the dynamic energy of movement.