Harrell‘s “Monkey โฃOff My Back” Makes U.S. Debut, Championing Artistic Freedom
NEW YORK CITY – Choreographer Trajal Harrell’s expansive dance work, Monkey Offโค My Back orโค the Cat’s โขMeow, receivesโฃ its North American premiere this week at โPark Avenue Armory, following โperformances in Europe. The piece, notableโข forโข its unconventional staging andโค emphasis on โcostume as โnarrative, arrives amid โขgrowing concerns over censorshipโข and funding cuts impacting theโ arts in the unitedโข States.
Harrell conceived Monkey โ around โthe challenge of maintainingโข continuous movement on a long, runway-like floor inspired โby Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic Mondrian dress -โข anโ idea he โฃheld โคfor a decade before โฃrealizing it. “I realizedโ someone always had to be on theโ runway. The circulation on it couldn’t stop until the end. Once I had that,โ everything connected,” Harrell explained in โคa recent Dance Magazine interview.
The work culminates in a large, communal folk dance andโ anโข elongated bow. monkey features 60 distinctโ outfits,ranging from high fashion pieces by Comme des โขGarรงons to everydayโฃ items from Walmart,reflectingโค Harrell’s belief that “weโ all become experts in using [clothes] to facilitate how we want โฃto โrelate to society.” He intentionally prioritized costume spending over set design,โข a departureโ from conventional European state-theater โfunding models, and a boon to theโ predominantly femaleโค costume department involved in the production.
Harrell hopes the work โwill resonate with audiences regardlessโฃ of context, emphasizing the importance of art existing “only in this night, inโ this moment, withโข these people-each bringing their โown concerns, histories, feelings, doubts, fears.” Monkey Off My Back ran โin Bolzano, Italy; Vienna; โขand Switzerland prior to its New York โฃpremiere.