The Köln Concert

Jarrett is ‘his composer’, reveals the American dancer and choreographer Trajal Harrell. He enters the stage alone at first. Seven empty piano stools can be seen. The clear, vibrant voice of the Canadian musician Joni Mitchell fills the space, running seamlessly into Jarrett’s piano improvisations.

Effortlessly and lightly, the seven dancers translate the virtuoso emotional deep dive of the jazz music into a moving theatrical sequence. Japanese butoh meets Western modern dance. Harrell mixes poses from ancient vases with voguing, the extravagant catwalk style which emerged from the queer New York subculture of the 1970s.

In this colourful play of references and stories, Trajal Harrell brings his stylistic origins together and outlines a path of mutual awareness. The shared experience of the dancers, who show themselves in all their vulnerability, is for Harrell a symbol of remembering all the many stories of people who are barely heard or seen.

The Köln Concert is a tender celebration of all those forced into the shadows. This is their evening.