Tiran Willemse (CH/ZA)
blackmilk

“Trompoppies” is an Afrikaans term for majorette dancers, who are popular in South Africa, too. A native of that country, dancer Tiran Willemse – known for his performances in works by Trajal Harrell – has named a trilogy of works after the uniformed trompoppies. In the first part, blackmilk, Willemse examines a distinguishing choreographic element of the trompoppies’ formation dances: their precise hand movements. He combines them with the gestures of Black rap stars, thus complicating society’s image of Black masculinity: with haunting sounds and virtuoso dance, he contrasts the “macho figure” which, according to Willemse, Black men still get reduced to, with a nuanced “Black male melancholia”. Moon river, wider than a mile …