In the drag ball-speak, a “look” is an opportunity to embody a dream, whether its impersonating an investment banker or high society doyenne. We know. We’ve seen Paris is Burning more times than we’ll admit. Choreographer Trajal Harrell has looks to spare. 20 of them, according to his wildly-acclaimed show Antigone Sr./Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at the Judson Church, which makes it west coast premiere later this week.
Just like those legendary contestants of yesterday, Harrell finds inspiration in all walks of life.
“The voguing ballrooms brought together poorer artists and audiences, non-white, inspired by pop and fashion culture and a search for the ‘realness’ of gesture,” he says in a statement about the show. “This realness turns out to reveal the artificiality being performed at the root of all social identities. I am most interested in how the imagination can re-think the “omissions” of history. In this way, performance can be a way in which we collectively re-imagine the impossibilities of history and thus make room for new possibilities in the world we make today.”
Antigone Sr. will be performed at L.A.’s Redcat April 3-6. Watch the teaser for the show below.
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