Porca Miseria

Close
Holland Festival

Porca Miseria

Trajal Harrell

Shows

Sorry, there are currently no available shows.
Porca Miseria
Trajal Harrell
€ 57 / HF Young € 20 / CJP - Student € 12

Trilogy with surprising perspectives

Voguing, Japanese butoh, ancient Greek theatre performance art and contemporary dance – the American choreographer Trajal Harrell conjures up his elegant, subtle vocabulary from a wide range of genres.


He bases his major new trilogy Porca Miseria on the stories and battles of three very different, but equally strong women: like the character of Maggie from Tennessee's Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Medea, the tragic heroine from Greek mythology. Through them he explores issues of identity, gender, sexuality and power in a compelling way, breaking the boundaries between dance, theatre and the visual arts.

The first part is both art installation and performance, the middle part is a film, and the third part is shown in a theater setting.

Festival Holland Festival

End time 9:05 pm
Genre Dance
Language language no problem

Trajal Harrell


Trajal Harrell’s most conspicuous work was the eight-part performance series Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church. Judson Church was where a group of dance pioneers in the 1960s (Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Steve Paxton and many others) developed the concepts of postmodern dance. The series is designed as an encounter between this early postmodern dance and voguing.

Harrell created seven episodes of varying lengths plus a publication.

-|-
The third part premiered in 2009 at the New Museum in New York and was heralded as one of that year’s best works. One of the last in the series, Judson Church is Ringing in Harlem (Made-to-Measure) / Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church (M2M), was performed at the 2014 Holland Festival at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum. A year later, his work The Return of The Modern Dance (2015) was also shown at the Holland Festival. In 2020 he made his triptych Porca Miseria which will be shown in its entirety for the first time in the 2022 Holland Festival.

Start at 4 pm or 5:15 pm


4:00 pm - 5:15 pm part 1: Deathbed
5:15 pm - 7:30 pm break
7:30 pm - 9:05 pm part 2: O Medea + part 3: Maggie the cat
-|-
5:15 pm - 6:30 pm part 1: Deathbed
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm break
7:30 pm - 9:05 pm part 2: O Medea + part 3: Maggie the cat

Porca Miseria


part 1: Deathbed
Part one of Porca Miseria is inspired by a meeting between Harrell and an African American choreographer Porca Miseria is based on this encounter. Harrell explores the boundaries between dance, theatre and visual arts – it’s equal parts installation and performance, and the audience is free to move around the space.

part 2: O Medea
O Medea is a short film based on Medea from Greek mythology. Harrell: ‘I see Medea as a woman who is ‘crazy in love’, to quote Beyoncé. Medea, who kills her own children, is a metaphor: murdering the male-defined ideal of motherhood and femininity to free herself.’ An emotional homage to a tragic heroine in an extraordinary exploration of grief.

-|-
part 3: Maggie the Cat
The third part of Harrell’s trilogy Porca Miseria is inspired by Maggie, the troubled but tough central character of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, with Harrell shifting the perspective away from the rich white family of Maggie's husband Brick to the African American servants. The night-on-the-town soundtrack is equally at home in the nightclub and the theatre.

Credits

choreography Trajal Harrell production Manchester International Festival Manchester International Festival, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Onassis Stegi, Kampnagel Hamburg, Holland Festival, Barbican, Dance Umbrella, NYU Skirball, Berliner Festspiele, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi

This performance is made possible by Ammodo

About Holland Festival

Holland Festival is the largest international performing arts festival of the Netherlands and one of the oldest festivals of Europe. The festival was established in 1947 and will celebrate its 75-year anniversary in 2022.

It takes places every year, In June, in and around Amsterdam, at various locations, both indoors and outdoors, both large-scale and intimate, both online and offline.

More information about Holland Festival

More Holland Festival

Language NP Language no problem Exotica Amanda Piña, nadaproductions Dance Exotica
Close Exotica Amanda Piña, nadaproductions
06 Jun '23 to 07 Jun '23
In the early 20th century, many dancers and choreographers from different parts of the world enjoyed great success in Europe. Yet they fell into oblivion because they did not fit into the Western canon. With EXÓTICA, choreographer Amanda Piña breathes new life into their work.
Language NP Language no problem Angela (a strange loop) Susanne Kennedy, Markus Selg Theater Angela (a strange loop)
Close Angela (a strange loop) Susanne Kennedy, Markus Selg
07 Jun '23 to 09 Jun '23
For Angela (a strange loop), director Susanne Kennedy and multimedia artist Markus Selg take the life of a woman, in order to portray individual life as a journey and to ask what it means to be human today.
Language NP Language no problem Lemniskata Lukas Avendaño Dance Lemniskata
Close Lemniskata Lukas Avendaño
12 Jun '23 to 14 Jun '23
An abstract backdrop with enormous frames strung with ropes, sound design composed for pre-colonial instruments, and a strong collective choreography make the first large-scale dance piece by the Mexican artist Lukas Avendaño a poetic journey.
Language NP Language no problem penthesileaITA–EnsembleTheater penthesilea
Close penthesilea ITA-ensemble / Eline Arbo
15 Jun '23 to 25 Jun '23
In this searing drama about a fatal love, a blistering passion churns unstoppably to the surface.
Language NP Language no problem Vake Poes; of hoe God verdween Lisaboa Houbrechts, laGeste (les ballets C de la B + kabinet k) Theater Vake Poes; of hoe God verdween
Close Vake Poes; of hoe God verdween Lisaboa Houbrechts, laGeste (les ballets C de la B + kabinet k)
16 Jun '23 to 17 Jun '23
How do hidden traumas from the past affect the present? Vake Poes; of hoe God verdween is a family epic that spans three generations from the perspective of a young girl.
Language NP Language no problem Dragons Eun-Me Ahn Dance Dragons
Close Dragons Eun-Me Ahn
20 Jun '23 to 21 Jun '23
With their both contemporary and traditional dances amidst a playful futuristic setting with holographic projections, dancers from various Asian countries unveil their hopes and vision for the future. A firework of colour!
Language NP Language no problem Bros Romeo Castelluci, Socìetas Theater Bros
Close Bros Romeo Castelluci, Socìetas
24 Jun '23 to 25 Jun '23
Where and why does violence arise? With its stunning images and sound, Romeo Castellucci’s Bros shows how the most brutal violence may arise without any identifiable evil.