Hofesh Shechter's 'Political Mother' has recently finished a run at the Melbourne Festival. This interview was done when he brought his company to the Festival last October with a double bill program of ‘Uprising’ and ‘In Your Rooms'. Shechter was born in Jerusalem and is now associate artist at Sadlers Wells in London.
You trained at the Jerusalem Academy for Dance and Music before joining Batsheva Company in Tel Aviv. How long were you in the company?
I was first in the Batsheva Ensemble, the junior company, for two years and then in the main company for a year and a half. That was about 14 years ago.
Is your training Graham-based?
I studied Graham at the academy alongside classical ballet, but I was only there a short time. Before that I was in a youth folk dance company from when I was pretty young and this had a huge influence on me. But I owe the main part of my training and development as a dancer to being in the junior company of Batsheva where I got to work with a lot of contemporary choreographers as well as Ohad Naharin’s work.
You have also studied drum and percussion. Where did this interest stem from?
I always loved music and making music; I studied piano when I was young and in fact went to the academy in Jerusalem first as pianist before switching to dance. When I left Batsheva I wanted to learn something new. I was randomly interested in drumming and once I started I got really obsessed and practised endlessly. For three years...
How much does your music training influence your choreography?
I don’t know if it’s my “training” but the music absolutely influences the choreography and vice versa. I like the experimental nature of music and its ability to throw the choreographic work to places you can’t predict.
Why did you move to Paris?
I wanted to explore new places and had been to Paris with the folk dance company when I was a child. The trip really influenced me – I loved Paris and always wanted to return. Plus my girlfriend at the time was from Paris and so it was easy for us to go there.
You were commissioned to create Uprising by The Place in London. Please tell us about it.
I wanted to work with male dancers at the time – and the work became simply about that – explore that male energy. The idea is simple, the fun of play and the fun of fight. I enjoyed making a work that confuses values and feelings, where tenderness and aggressiveness, randomness, chaos and the power of order can easily be replaced with one another. The music is a carpet of groove that drives the work along.
Can you explain its popularity?
No. But I can attempt to understand it – the work is simple and non-pretentious. It is easy to connect with its human qualities. It doesn’t preach a statement but only presents a line of questions if one wanted to see them. If not they can find interest in the physicality, connect to the groove, find little stories inside or simply find a visual pleasure. It is rich. Also, I made this specific work out of frustration of not enjoying dancing in my own work. I wanted to create a work I enjoy as a dancer, and maybe something of this enjoyment power is breaking through to the audience. But really, who knows?...
How different is In your Rooms, and is it your biggest work to date?
In your Rooms is the most complex work I’ve created to date. It is very different from Uprising yet because of the way I created the evening the memory of Uprising certainly exists in the world of In your Rooms. Having female dancers back on stage changes everything, the way you see the guys – it creates more mature and sensitive settings. It gives place to more tender sensations alongside some grandness and give an overall slightly less hopeful angle on the world. It’s a sweet bitter pill. Rather large pill.
You wrote the music scores for both these works. What came first, the music or the dance?
They come together absolutely – I take a sound into the studio, work a bit and then go home and work on the music from what I’ve seen in the studio. It’s an exciting way to work though I work around the clock when I am approaching a premier.
What sort of training do your dancers undertake?
It totally depends on where we wake up in the morning. We’re travelling a lot so the dancers don’t always get a regular class. We take ballet classes when we can and invite teachers in. We also work a lot with improvisation in class – although not so much during creation.
What sort of dancer do you like to employ?
Simple non-pretentious people. I’m looking for a humble and human quality in dancers. The personality and its simplicity means much more to me than their technical skills. But in saying that, my dancers are all incredibly talented as well, not necessarily totally technically perfect, but with amazing clarity, precision and stage presence. It’s an ensemble company so each one is incredibly important, there are no stars but at the same time they are all stars – it takes a very simple and humble performer to be able to handle that, both on stage and in the studio.