Trajal Harrell

American choreographer Trajal Harrell gained worldwide recognition with his series of works Twenty Looks and Paris is Burning at the Judson Church, and is now a regular guest on the international dance and visual arts circuit. The unique style of his work results not only from the unusual way in which he combines seemingly far-flung dance languages such as voguing, postmodern dance and butoh, but also and above all from the fragility and humor that permeate all his works. Aesthetically, his pieces are always a tribute to the people standing on stage. He dresses them in carefully selected fabrics, drawing heavily on the evolution of haute couture (which he sometimes uses directly on stage), and his highly personal gestures turn his performers into singular, autonomous beings. In fact, he performs most of his pieces himself. In recent years, his work has not only been embraced within the visual arts world; he has also staged a succession of powerful plays for the theater. These include his work on Sophocles’ Antigone, his free adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and, with Maggie The Cat, his fresh take on Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Since 2019, Trajal Harrell has been director of the Schauspielhaus Zürich, where he runs a dance company, the Schauspielhaus Zürich Dance Ensemble. With this company, he has staged The Köln Concert, Monkey off My Back or the Cat’s Me and Deathbed in Zürich.

Source: Maison de la danse