ANTIGONE SR.
The myth of Antigone revisited in a crazy hybridization of voguing and post-modern dance. Like a turn on a Ferris wheel that spins off centre, it expands our vision of art, propelled by the audacity and inventiveness of New York artist Trajal Harrell.
SOPHOCLES IN NEW YORK
“Give me legendary face! There’s an icon in the house!” Microphone in hand, Trajal Harrell orchestrates a unique and unlikely voguing ball. Five very sexy guys parade on brightly lit runways that stripe the stage. They have abandoned suits and ties and jeans in favour of imaginary high heels, turning a bolt of silk into a toga that is then soon transformed into a skirt, turban or corsage. They play Antigone the rebel, as well as Ismene, Eurydice and Creon. Parachuted into the heart of Greek tragedy, they rework this ancient drama with pop songs, ballads, deconstructed tirades and demented competitions. An extravagant hybridization of styles and genres, this is a rolling fire of intelligence, audacity and inventiveness.
In Antigone Sr., as with (M)imosa (FTA, 2012), both parts of Harrell’s eight-part series Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church, the New York iconoclast pushes the limits of borrowing and intermingling as he questions dance, gender and dominant power. Like a turn on a Ferris wheel that spins off centre, expanding our vision of art.
PRODUCED BY TRAJAL HARRELL
CHOREOGRAPHED BY TRAJAL HARRELL
PERFORMED BY ROB FORDEYN + TRAJAL HARRELL + THIBAULT LAC + STEPHEN THOMPSON + ONDREJ VIDLAR
SET DESIGN ERIK FLATMO
LIGHTING DESIGN JAN MAERTENS
SOUND DESIGN TRAJAL HARRELL + ROBIN MEIER
DRAMATURG GÉRARD MAYEN
COPRODUCTION NEW YORK LIVE ARTS + CENTRE NATIONAL DE DANSE CONTEMPORAINE D’ANGERS + CENTRE CHORÉGRAPHIQUE NATIONAL DE FRANCHE-COMTÉ (BELFORT)
CREATIVE RESIDENCIES WPZIMMER (ANTWERP) + WORK SPACE BRUSSELS + PACT ZOLLVEREIN (ESSEN) + DANSENS HUS (STOCKHOLM)
WITH THE SUPPORT OF JEROME FOUNDATION (ST-PAUL) + MULTI-ARTS PRODUCTION FUND (NEW YORK) + MERTZ-GILMORE FOUNDATION (NEW YORK)
WRITTEN BY FABIENNE CABADO
TRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH
WORLD PREMIÈRE AT NEW YORK LIVE ARTS, NEW YORK, ON APRIL 25-28, 2012
TRAJAL HARRELL (NEW YORK)
Styles and Hierarchies Deconstructed
The New York dancer and choreographer Trajal Harrell could very well be to contemporary staging what Martha Graham was to modern dance in the 1920s.
