TRAJAL HARRELL / ZÜRICH DANCE ENSEMBLE

A dance piece to the most famous solo piano recording of all time – Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert. To this music, the debut of Trajal Harrell’s Schauspielhaus Zürich Dance Ensemble, founded in 2019 at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, took place. Before The Köln Concert is played, we first hear four songs by another artist: the Canadian musician Joni Mitchell. She opens the evening, setting the stage for the music of Keith Jarrett and for the seven dancers of the dance ensemble. Trajal Harrell’s Köln Concert seeks a way for people to meet despite different languages, different world views, different identities. The shared experience of people, of tender and strong people disclosing their vulnerability, dancing, functions as a reminder of the need to stay close, to have respect, and never to forget that there are many stories of people who are hardly ever heard or seen; people pushed into the shadows, the lonely, the addicted, the abandoned, the homeless, the sad, who defy their abandonment proudly and in beauty. It is to them that this evening belongs to.

The American choreographer Trajal Harrell gained global recognition with his series of works Twenty Looks or 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 Trajal Harrell’s works is a result not just of the unusual way in which he combines dance languages that might seem very distant from each other, such as voguing, post­modern dance and butoh, but also and above all of the fragility and humour that pervade all his work. Aesthetically, his pieces are always an homage to the people standing on stage. He clothes them in carefully­selected fabrics, draws major inspiration from developments in haute couture (which he sometimes uses on stage directly), and his highly personal style of movement turns his performers into unusual and autonomous beings. He also performs in most of his pieces himself. In recent years, his work has not just been increasingly adopted in the visual arts world; he has also directed a succession of powerful pieces for the theatre.

With New Kyd, Maria Ferreira Silva, Trajal Harrell, Rob Fordeyn, Thibault Lac, Songhay Toldon, Ondrej Vidlar  / Staging, Choreography, Set, Soundtrack & Costumes Trajal Harrell / Music Keith Jarrett, Joni Mitchell / Lighting Sylvain Rausa / Dramaturgy Katinka Deecke / Production Assistant Camille Roduit, Maja Renn / Touring Management & International Relations Björn Pätz, ART HAPPENS
Production Schauspielhaus Zürich / Coproducction Le Maison de la Musique de Nanterre and Festival d’Automne à Paris / With the support Embassy of the United States of America in France / With the music Keith Jarrett and Joni Mitchell thanks to the agreement with ECM Records