JOJI INC is a choreographic and scenographic focused company created by Johanne Saunier and Jim Clayburgh in 1998, that examines how architecture, and technology surround the human body and how a body can exist in that "cultural" environment. JOJI INC produced 12 pieces which examined how these ideas can be reflected in film, video, sound, music, design and movement when placed in a performance context. Many of these pieces have and will continue to segue with living composers.
JOJI INC. created its first solo piece in 1998, Sans la Voix des Maîtres, interpreted by Johanne Saunier based on scenes from the film "Harakiri" by Kobayashi, 1963. 1999 Chorée/Salto, a choreographed musical concert created with the pianist Stéphane Ginsburgh, the composer Renaud de Putter and the viola player Garth Knox (Arditti Quartet), 2000 Final Scene, is a piece for three female dancers in the continuation of the solo, which won the Prix d'Auteur du Conseil général de Seine-t Denis (Bagnolet). 2001 Landscape with 4 Figures. A piece for 4 dancers and a Viole d'Amour player (Garth Knox) improvising on the Philippe Boesman' string quartet "Summer Dreams". 2002 It's like , for 3 female dancers and an actress via Internet connection, within a square installation of veils. 2003 Creation of the film It's like. directed by JOJI INC et Michel de Wouters(Festival VidéoDanse Beaubourg Paris, Festival Nueva Tokyo, Nancy, Atomium Brussels, Avignon festival.) 2004 It's like./ l'installation (Atomium Bruxelles) S W O T solo with a rope (Festival Avignon off). Erase-E(x) 1 a solo with Johanne Saunier and choreographed by the Wooster Group of New York created in Avignon 2004 "Sujet à Vif". 2005 Erase-E(x) 1, 2, 3 a multi parts performance with the collaboration of The Wooster Group, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, and Isabella Soupart, Festival Avignon 05. 2006 Erase-E(x) 4 by Kurt D'Haeseleer Théâtre de la Ville Paris. 2007 Erase-E(x) 5 , 6 by composer Georges Aperghis, and Johanne Saunier in the Biennale de Charleroi-Danses. 2008 Lolita an opera stage by Jim Clayburgh, choreographed by Johanne Saunier, music and libretto by Joshua Fineberg. 2010 Line of Oblivion based on the Carlos Fuentes Text, music by Arturo Fuentes. 2011 Musée en Chantier with Cecile Goossens. 2012 Modern Dance,
a collaboration with Mathurin Bolze
Johanne Saunier
choreographer
Johanne danced for more than 12 years for Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (Rosas) with who she still collaborates as assistant, rehearsal master reviving her work with opera de Paris Ballet, Gulbelkian Ballet, Roya danish ballet and Operaballet vlanderen.N In 1998 she created JOJI INC with Jim Clayburgh, one of the founders of New York based The Wooster Group. JOJI INC received an award Seine Saint Denis/ Bagnolet in Paris in 2000, tours internationally and gets praised and honoured in many countries. Johanne also collaborated with an extensive list of artists such as Guy Cassiers, Georges Aperghis, composer or video maker Kurt d’Haeseleer, Ictus Ensemble, Luc Bondy, opera singer Nathalie Dessay, Quatuor Diotima, Jean Francois Sivadier. She has an extensive relation as a choreographer for operas. She founded Les Ballets Confidentiels in 2013 and is now associated with the lyrical singer Eléonore Lemaire and the percussionist Richard Dubelski to perform short pieces all terrain, with no or little technic. mostly outside of the conventional scenes (gardens, houses, cafes, galeries and museums).
2018 She directed her first opera with 210 kids to the music of Arhtur Lavandier « La légende du Roi Dragon» in opera de Lille & Bordeaux and will stage again 300 kids in June 23 in Lille. She recieved the SACD choreographic price in 2021
photo Myriam Devriendt
Jim Clayburgh scenographer
Jim Clayburgh is a founding member of The Wooster Group and was their resident designer from 1976 to 1995. His designs include " The Hairy Ape ", " Finished Story ", " Emperor Jones" and " Brace Up" . Prior to that there were the 3 sections of " The Road to Immortality" which include " Route 1 & 9 (The last act)", "L.S.D. (Just the high points ...)" and " Frank Dell's , The Temptation of St. Antony , " Pt. Judith " and the trilogy " Three Places in Rhode Island". His work with them has included designs for about 80 venues in Europe, Asia and South America. In addition to his work with The Wooster Group, Mr. Clayburgh has designed theater pieces at the Salzburg Festival, Pepsico Festival, The New York Shakespeare Festival, The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Creation Company, Mabou Mines and Second Stage including work directed by Richard Foreman, David Rabe, Des McAnuff, Wilford Leach, Matthew Maguire, Hal Hartley, Isabella Soupart, and Jeffrey M. Jones. He has designed lighting for dance pieces by Rosas, Compagnie Michele Anne de Mey, Compagnie Pierre Droulers, JOJI INC, Wim Vandekeybus, the musical Ensemble, Ictus and Walpurgis all Belgian companies, and as well for the Ballet de Geneve (Suisse), EN-KNAP (Slovenia).
In opera, his work includes "Aventures Nouvelles Adventures"of Ligeti, produced by the Monnaie/Munt on Brussels for which he conceived and co-directed with Pierre Droulers and designed the decor, lighting and costumes. He designed the lighting for "Reppresentatione di Anima et di Corpo" of Cavalieri also at the Monnaie/Munt. He has designed lighting and/or decors for visual art installations : "Ma" "Ma-I" and "Inouï" for Compagnie Pierre Droulers, "and Motention" for En Knap (Slovenia/London),
Mr Clayburgh directed "IM-agined", a short piece created in collaboration with costume designer Anke Loh, video artist Kurt d'Haeseleer and Joji Inc. This performance explored the Lumalive video technology created by Philips and was integrated into the costumes. In 2008, he directed and designed "LOLITA", an imagined opera based on the novel by Nabokov, composed by Joshua Fineberg. In the same year he directed and designed "Walking on Rocks", a JOJI INC piece which explores the ownership of movement. He was part of the renovation design team for 2 concert hall complexes in Brussels: La Maison de la Radio Flagey and for Le Palais des Beaux Arts. (2000-2006). Mr. Clayburgh has a Bachelor of Arts(BA) from Claremont McKenna College with his major studies in design at Pomona College and a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in Theater Design from New York University School of the Arts. He received an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in the field of design. He has had photographs of his work appear in several theatrical design anthologies and has had articles on him appear in "Theater Crafts Magazine" and in "Theater Design and Technology".