Trajal Harrell

Born in Douglas, Georgia in 1973, Trajal Harrell is an American dancer and choreographer, who is perhaps known best for his multi-year series of works entitled Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church that juxtaposed and reconfigured the voguing dance form with the early postmodern dance tradition. Two chapters of the series—Medium (M) and Extra Small (XS) premiered at The Kitchen in 2011. Of this particular series, Antigone Sr./ Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church (L) won the 2012 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for Best Production. Through a six-night engagement, Harrell performed the complete series at The Kitchen in 2014. In 2006, Harrell made his first appearance at The Kitchen, where he premiered and presented his ensemble piece Before Intermission. Harrell’s work has also been presented at other venues including Museum of Modern Art, the New Museum, MoMA PS1, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York Live Arts, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art’s Time-Based Art Festival, Walker Arts Center, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Festival d'Automne, Paris; Rencontres Chorégraphiques, Paris; Festival d'Avignon, Avignon; Impulstanz, Vienna; TanzimAugust, Berlin; Panorama Festival, Rio de Janeiro; Festival Transmériques, Montreal; and Holland Festival, Netherlands. For more information please visit: http://betatrajal.org/home.html