Trajal Harrell The Romeo

Presented at the 77th edition of the Avignon Festival, the new work by Trajal Harrell brings a utopia to life by drawing from a surprising idea: “what if Romeo was a dance?” The young lover conceived by Shakespeare, who thought he could defeat death, gives the dance its name. Like him, the dance is presumably known around the world although no one knows when or where it originated. It has rural and pastoral origins and is performed as a group. However, it is not for everybody, it is the dance of women and men who decided to drop everything after life mistreated them. Born out of turmoil and tragedy, it speaks to their collective resilience. It is this spark of resistance, passed down from generation to generation, that ignites Trajal Harrell’s new work. With his voguing-inspired vocabulary, the New Yorker choreographer imagines the dance that spurs people from all walks of life when they leave their tragedies behind.  

Vincent Théval