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Preview Jamie xx’s Ballet Score for ‘Tree Of Codes’

The xx music-maker and brilliant artist in his own right, Jamie xx has composed a ballet score called Tree Of Codes. The full ballet will be performed at the Manchester International Festival in July, but a preview is now available for the many of us interested folk who can’t be there at the time. The score was inspired by Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Tree Of Codes, which a re-telling of Bruno Schulz’s The Street Of Crocodiles. The ballet was directed and choreographed by Wayne McGregor, who describes the ballet as a “constellations of light, shadows, bodies, objects and sound dance at the edges of darkness.”

Visual artist of the ballet Olafur Eliasson added, “Clearly Jamie’s music can’t live without movement and space. Clearly Wayne’s choreography can’t live without sound and space. Clearly my art can’t live without sound and movement. Clearly creativity can change the world.”

Watch the trailer below, featuring the track Pianna. The contemporary piece features a beautifully simple piano medley and the stunning vocals of Okay Kaya. It’s very different to his new album In Colour, which is much more upbeat.

The ballet opens on July 2nd and closes on July 10th.