Trajal Harrell, the black American choreographer, is in the spotlight in Paris this season. The Autumn Festival pays tribute to him by presenting his entire career. Nine pieces programmed where we can see the evolution of the artist, inspired as much by voguing, this dance born in the African-American gay bars of New York, which parodies fashion shows with forceful gestures, and butō, the Japanese dance created following the Second World War and the nuclear attack on Hiroshima.
For Trajal Harrell, dance is a ritual in which he includes the audience. In “Maggie the Cat”, inspired by the main character of the play “Cat on a Hot Tin Tin Roof” by Tennessee Williams, he offers us a crazy parade of insolent characters in colorful clothing in a wildly liberating dance that would not have displeased the great American playwright Tennessee Williams whose work anchored in the South of the United States denounces conformism and racism. “ I have seen the play several times on Broadway and in London, but above all, I love the film with Elisabeth Taylor as Maggie and I have always wanted to adapt it. I’m also from the South of the USA.United States. So I feel concerned », says Trajal Harrell.
And on stage, the dance draws on various inspirations such as voguing born in the African-American gay bars of New York which parodies fashion shows with strong gestures and butō, a Japanese dance created following the nuclear attack in Hiroshima. “ My first ten years in dance were very linked to “modern dance” and “voguing”… And because all of that is associated with beauty or the traditional way of seeing beauty, a glamorous way, I was therefore looking for something to counter that, a tension. Butō is associated with death, I thought these two aesthetics could be interesting together » he explains.
And to close this tribute to the Autumn Festival, Trajal Harrell takes on Keith Jarrett’s legendary piece on the piano: The Koln Concert, an hour-long improvisation performance by the musician. The choreographer remembers the first time he heard it. “ It made me cry because I didn’t think anyone could compose music like that. I didn’t know how to describe it: jazz, classical, gospel. I didn’t know what it was, but it touched me so deeply. I listened to it over and over and over again. Of course, I was a young choreographer and I didn’t think I was ready to create a dance to the music of the “Koln Concert” and for 20 years it was a dream, yes…” he said.
A dream that he realizes today in a mature piece where dance is a symbiosis of all his influences: voguing, butō, contemporary dance.