Trajal Harrell / Zürich Dance Ensemble

Biography

Trajal Harrell is an American choreographer and dancer based in Zurich. Trained at the Trisha Brown Studio, the Centre National de la Danse with Yvonne Rainer, and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, he has spent more than two decades developing a body of work that brings voguing, postmodern dance and butoh into dialogue. Informed by questions of gender, feminism and postcolonialism, his work dissolves the boundaries between dance, performance, fashion and the visual arts. From 2019 to 2024, he directed the dance company of the Schauspielhaus Zürich before founding the Zürich Dance Ensemble. In 2024, he was awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Dance Biennale. His work has been presented internationally at venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art and MoMA PS1 in New York; the Centre Pompidou, Fondation Cartier and Festival d’Automne in Paris; the Festival d’Avignon; the Barbican Centre in London; ImPulsTanz in Vienna; Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels; and the São Paulo Biennial.