This past Sunday, the vast cavern covering the facade of the Palais Garnier came to life with CHIROPTERA, a project by JR, Damien Jalet, and Thomas Bangalter. Twenty-five thousand spectators filled the Place de l’Opéra to watch Amandine Albisson, a principal ballerina at the Paris Opera, open the entrance to the cave with her looming, anthropomorphous shadow. For one night only, JR’s Act II – Retour à la caverne installation became a stage curtain that opened to unveil 153 dancers covering scaffolding thirty meters in the air. A stunning performance choreographed by Damien Jalet with music by Thomas Bangalter, CHIROPTERA explored the allegories presented in Act I and II of Retour à la caverne

The project could have never come to life without the contribution of thousands of people who left their handprints on the cave by participating in Mano Habilis and who came to the Place de l’Opéra on a rainy Sunday night to help fill the cave with life.

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