What can I say about one of the choreographic giants of the UK? Well, to meet him, Shechter seems a very decisive, polite and driven man. He knows what he wants, and undoubtedly this pervades his dance life – a quality I should learn in abundance.
What strikes me most about this man is the contrast he possesses. He is quite tall, lithe; yet his choreographic style possesses a gritty, grounded vocabulary focused on developed tension between two points in the body. This is manifested in physical terms as a weighted quality that continually encounters suspended moments to indulge in.
Beginning his studies back in his native Israel, Shechter worked with Batsheva Dance Company for a time, while completing his military service. On coming to London in 2002, began working with Jasmin Vardimon Company. Shechter arrived in the UK (via Paris) at 25 years old, his first job being a drummer for band The Human Beings. “London was a shock. There are opportunities and possibilities here, but it’s hard to find them. Nobody’s exactly waiting for you to arrive” – (ah! I’m not alone!).
His choreographic debut Fragments (2003) was to begin the snowball of choreographic ventures for Shechter, and his popularity has undoubtedly increased alongside his experience. Fragments awarded him the position of associate choreographer at The Place, and later that same year his next work Cult, a work examining the powers that steer us in today’s society, awarded him the 2004 Place Prize.
Described by a reviewer as “the solider poet“, Shechter has managed to tread the path between an energetic strength and an introverted experience creating a new work (almost) each and every year.
I admire Shechter’s honesty, (“I didn’t have big dreams about anything“) about his choreographic processes and his views on dance. I wonder whether it takes a certain amount of success to reach this stage of humility or whether it’s a personal quality of his own…
Shechter on success: “It’s difficult for me to connect to the idea that I’m successful. I can see it in the fact that my work tours all around the world and I get commissioned and produced, but I really don’t experience my life like this. I mostly don’t succeed in doing what I want to do, on a daily basis… The fantasy is amazing but in the reality everything is compromised, so I have to just keep trying again, and maybe it will get a little bit more focused, a little bit more like what I was imagining; maybe I will catch the feeling, I will catch the timing. But mostly the feeling and the timing are missed.”
I find his movement style exciting: creating tension but release within the body, giving the tension a context and an outlet in an emotional physicality. His dancers look like “real” people, they are engaged and completely in the moment when performing. There’s a compelling gravity to his work, and I wish to cultivate strength and energy I see in his style.
“That’s the amazing part of art: we have a stage, we have an hour, and in this time, in this space – as long as we’re not breaking any laws – we can do whatever we want.”
It’s comforting to find a choreographer who openly acknowledges the confusion dancing can bring, but who proactively uses it to express himself.
For the Hofesh Shechter Company website, click here
Follow Shechter on Twitter here
Top image from: Article19