Antigone Sr. Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church (L)

Performance created on April 25, 2012 at New York Live Arts
Recreated on February 13, 2026 at Théâtre de Liège

In ancient Greece, theater was much more than an art form.
It was a social and political event, a collective ritual for all citizens, where text, dance, and music were used to question the city, its values, and its norms.
During performances, all roles were played by men, including female characters — an early form of performative cross-dressing.

Two millennia later, in New York, the queer African-American and Latino community invented voguing, a groundbreaking dance style imitating Vogue magazine models’ poses with deliberately exaggerated gestures.

At first glance, these two performance forms seem worlds apart. Yet they share core similarities: both involve gender play, the theatricalization of social codes, and a challenge to established norms and values.

With Antigone Sr., renowned American dancer and choreographer Trajal Harrell invokes the myth of Antigone — who defied the patriarchal rules of ancient Greece — to fuse ancient theater with voguing and postmodern dance, offering a radically innovative take on theatrical heritage and showing how moving bodies can still challenge political, sexual, and artistic definitions today.