Dancer of the Year

Trajal Harrell

June 24 – 25, 2021

Running time 50’
Italian Premiere

Trajal Harrell returns to Milan for the Italian premiere of his new solo, Dancer of the Year. Over the last two decades the American choreographer, one of the most original and internationally admired, has been reimagining the history of contemporary dance and its subcultures(including voguing), through a series of transgressively original works for the stage and gallery spaces. This new full-length work is a response to his own selection as ‘dancer of the year’ by Tanz magazine in 2018. The award triggers a process of reflection, both on his personal journey and on the value of dance as a practice. Urgent questions of cultural transmission return in this powerfully emotional solo: the legacy of Butoh and of the Japanese choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata are exposed and interrogated, raising questions about the politics of performing dance and any kind of selfie.

Trajal Harrell came to contemporary dance world fame with the Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church series of works, which theoretically juxtaposed the voguing dance tradition with the early postmodern dance tradition. He is considered as one of the most important choreographers working today. His work has been presented at the Manchester International Festival, Centre National de la Danse Paris, Walker Arts Center, Schauspielhaus Bochum, and Munich Kammerspiele, among many others. He has also shown performance work in visual art contexts such as MoMA PS1, Performa Biennial, Ludwig Museum, Hammer Museum, Centre Pompidou. Most recently, he has become well-known for «Hoochie Koochie», the first performance exhibition of his work (1999-2016) held at the Barbican in 2017. His work will be shown next at The Sao Paulo Biennial, as well as a performance retrospective of his work at Moscow Garage in 2023. Currently, his company is based at the Schauspielhaus Zurich where he is one of the house directors.

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Credits

Photo: © Orpheas Emirzas
Choreography, performance, costumes, sound design: Trajal Harrell
Dramaturgy: Sara Jansen
Production: CauseCélèbre vzw
Coproduction: KunstenfestivaldesArts, Kanal – Centre Pompidou, Impulstanz Festival, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Bit Theatergarasjen, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Lafayette Anticipation, Museum Ludwig, Dampfzentrale Bern, Schauspielhaus Zürich
Distribution: Art Happens