The associate artist for the 78th edition of the Holland Festival in June 2025 is American choreographer Trajal Harrell (Douglas, Georgia, USA, 1973). Harrell is one of the most important international contemporary choreographers. His unique style incorporates elements from various dance traditions, fashion, music and visual art. With universal human emotions and themes of connection, tragedy, tenderness and vulnerability, Harrell's performances often touch the viewer on a deeply personal level.
In 2025, for the seventh consecutive time, the Holland Festival will work with an associate artist: an international artist with a broad perspective and their own groundbreaking and interdisciplinary artistic practice, who will commit to the festival for one edition and show new work that the Holland Festival will co-produce. The associate artist acts as a discussion partner for the programme team.
Trajal Harrell on his role as associate artist:
'Amsterdam has always held a big place in my heart because it was the first place outside the US where I toured. I will always remember that. There is a long contemporary dance history here, a good sense of experimentation, but also respect for tradition. Dutch audiences are open and know what they are seeing. I look forward to being in Amsterdam throughout the Holland Festival. It's a rare privilege that an artist gets the chance to fulfil this role.'
About Trajal Harrell
Harrell gained international fame from 2009 with his Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church, a series of works in which voguing - a dance style that emerged in Harlem's ballroom scene in the late 1980s - and early postmodern dance are starting points. He presents his work in theatres, galleries and museums worldwide and has also given pop-up performances in unexpected places, such as a bookstore in Paris.
In his recent work, Harrell interweaves theoretical elements from voguing with movements and ideas from early modern dance and butoh, a post-war Japanese minimalist and engaged dance form developed in the late 1950s by Japanese dancer and choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata (1928-1996). Harrell's work explores the intersections between these seemingly disparate dance cultures, focusing on the body as a carrier of memories, the past and the historical influences that shape his dance practice.
Welcome to Asbestos Hall
Emily Ansenk, Holland Festival director: 'Trajal Harrell is a pioneering and charismatic choreographer of our time, who has been building a distinctive body of work for more than 20 years. Harrell questions the viewer's perspective - he invites us on a journey in which he addresses major issues of the human condition through dance. He is a frequent creator and performer at the Holland Festival. This year, he and his dancers are creating a very unique project in Amsterdam, titled Welcome to Asbestos Hall.
Welcome to Asbestos Hall is more than a performance. It is an expression of Harrell's vision of art and artistic practice as something that comes about in collaboration with others, and grows from mutual inspiration and inspiration. The performances made by Trajal Harrell in recent years, including the trilogy Porca Miseria or The Romeo mark the long journey around Hijikata's artistic legacy. With it Welcome to Asbestos Hall an important expression of Harrell's artistic philosophy and marks the end of an era. We are delighted to contribute to this development in Harrell's artistic biography with the Holland Festival as co-producer and partner of this project.'
Welcome to Asbestos Hall is inspired by Tatsumi Hijikata's original Asbestos Studio, a space Hijikata used as a studio and living room, for debate, experimentation, as well as drinking parties and film screenings. Welcome to Asbestos Hall will also be a place for experimentation, development, artistic encounters and presentation of new work by Harrell, his dancers and other artists, and will be accessible throughout the festival. Harrell will also work on a Welcome to Asbestos Hall in Brussels and Zurich.
Background
Trajal Harrell previously performed at the Holland Festival with Judson Church is Ringing in Harlem (Made-to-Measure), Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church (M2M) (2014), The Return of The Modern Dance (2015), Porca Miseria (2022) and The Romeo (2024).
From 2019 to 2024, Harrell was permanent choreographer of Schauspielhaus Zurich. In 2024, he founded the Zurich Dance Ensemble with headquarters in Zurich. This is the first time in Harrell's international career that he and his company have made a permanent commitment to a city.
This year, Harrell received the Silver Lion from the Venice Dance Biennale. The jury report says of his work, "His performances are the result of extensive research and, like much sensitive, hybrid and joyful art, draw from fashion, pop culture and avant-garde artists. In his unique blend of genres and surprising juxtaposition of forms, Harrell evokes a wide range of emotions. We laugh as fast as we cry, on a rollercoaster of emotions."
In 2018, he was named 'Dancer of the Year' by the authoritative Tanz magazine.
Previous associate artists
Previous associate artists include Christiane Jatahy (2024), ANOHNI (2023), Angélique Kidjo and Nicolas Stemann (2022), Gisèle Vienne and Ryuichi Sakamoto (2021), Bill T. Jones (2020) and Faustin Linyekula and William Kentridge (2019).
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