Harrell‘s “Monkey Off My Back” Makes U.S. Debut, Championing Artistic Freedom
NEW YORK CITY – Choreographer Trajal Harrell’s expansive dance work, Monkey Off My Back or the Cat’s Meow, receives its North American premiere this week at Park Avenue Armory, following performances in Europe. The piece, notable for its unconventional staging and emphasis on costume as narrative, arrives amid growing concerns over censorship and funding cuts impacting the arts in the united States.
Harrell conceived Monkey around the challenge of maintaining continuous movement on a long, runway-like floor inspired by Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic Mondrian dress - an idea he held for a decade before realizing it. “I realized someone always had to be on the runway. The circulation on it couldn’t stop until the end. Once I had that, everything connected,” Harrell explained in a recent Dance Magazine interview.
The work culminates in a large, communal folk dance and an elongated bow. monkey features 60 distinct outfits,ranging from high fashion pieces by Comme des Garçons to everyday items from Walmart,reflecting Harrell’s belief that “we all become experts in using [clothes] to facilitate how we want to relate to society.” He intentionally prioritized costume spending over set design, a departure from conventional European state-theater funding models, and a boon to the predominantly female costume department involved in the production.
Harrell hopes the work will resonate with audiences regardless of context, emphasizing the importance of art existing “only in this night, in this moment, with these people-each bringing their own concerns, histories, feelings, doubts, fears.” Monkey Off My Back ran in Bolzano, Italy; Vienna; and Switzerland prior to its New York premiere.