Shechter at Sadlers: did he pull it off?

I don’t think so. Others do. At least I don’t have to struggle with it anymore.

I’d like to note, though, that Eulalia Ayguade Farro was brilliant in In Your Rooms. Fantastic.

Other opinions

Jenny Gilbert in the Independent yesterday:

“For male-bonding rituals with insights, and minus the skirts, check out another Israeli choreographer, Hofesh Schechter. Hardly anyone knew his name until the managements of the Place, the South Bank and Sadler’s Wells decided to remedy things. Between them, they have come up with a plan they call an Escalator, a fast-track schedule of performances of the same double bill, starting with a small venue (the Place), moving up to medium scale (the QEH), and ending, triumphantly they hope, at Sadler’s Wells in September.

The major flaw in this idea is that, faced with the question “Would you like to see a work in progress?”, most of us would answer “No thanks, I’d rather see something finished and fabulous”. That said, last week’s mid-point showing was highly enjoyable, not least for its gut-thumping live account of the music (some of it written and performed by Schechter), emanating from a high platform cut into the set.

Uprising is a piece for seven feral-looking males, who storm about in packs as if bent on bagging an Asbo, twitch and jerk in ways that suggest factory labour, and scamper on their knuckles like menacing chimps. Schechter cleverly knits these motifs into a densely textured fabric, creating pattern and rhythm on both a micro and a macro scale.

The newer In Your Rooms, which comes with an even more terrific score by the fiddler Nell Catchpole, takes as its theme the difficulty of making true personal connections in a busy-busy world. It shares the thrilling troglodyte thump of the earlier piece, but needs a narrower focus if it’s to say anything.”

Salute Hofesh?

I respect Luke Jennings very much but his assertion in the Observer today that “In Your Rooms” is “probably the most important new dance work to be created since the millennium” troubles me. His review lacks any negative comment at all and I just can’t agree that there’s no room for improvement in this piece. He has found a depth and sophistication in the work that I have yet to register.

Shecter: Part II

Read my review of the second airing for the “Uprising/In Your Rooms” double bill on londondance.com.

Disappointing sequel syndrome rant

Hofesh Shechter has been getting the hype treatment. Jonzi D ‘bigged him up massive’ back in February when his work “Uprising” appeared in the “Sampled” bill alongside established dance big hitters, Rambert, Random and English National Ballet (let alone the tap dancers) and he went down a storm with his army of men-children tussling and tumbling all over the place. A big, soulful photo in the Metro preview pages yesterday morning heralded a fawning trailer for the first of his 3 big stints in London’s best dance venues; the Place, the Southbank Centre and Sadlers Wells, over the next months. Shechter’s been gifted an incredible commission; to create a new work and develop it for three major yet very different venues over 6 months. Last night’s opener at the Place held a palpable buzz and was absolutely packed with one of the most diverse audiences I’ve ever seen there. Good job then, that he had “Uprising” under his belt and could whack it out as a sure fire crowd pleaser to kick off the night.

“Uprising” is good to watch and a commercial winner. 7 fabulous male dancers filling the Place with seething testosterone. Plenty of aggression, a splodge of tenderness (not too much, mind) and Shechter style leaping, loping and grooving, some headlong dashing round in circles and playful tussling to a home made industrial soundtrack set in a smoky urban wasteland. Sometimes, it’s like a group of dancers just mucking about – a therapeutic back slapping session descends into a full on scrum fight – and Shecter patrols the performance proprietorially. No doubt who’s in charge. “Uprising” doesn’t say a great deal but it’s performed with macho commitment and elan. If the cheeky ending didn’t quite work tonight then it didn’t really matter because the audience was waiting for the main event anyway. Don’t want to peak too soon. Watch an illicit YouTube video of the Sadlers Wells performance here. It gets good around 3 mins in.

“In Your Rooms” begins with a mad Israeli bloke talking about the cosmos and confusion and chaos. He’s mildly amusing and it’s an eccentric start which is swiftly marred by the succession of briefly lit tableaux that emerge from the absolute blackness. A snippet of movement, three women sitting on the floor, 2 people staring at each other… it should probably all be loaded with meaning and emotion but it just gets annoying and starts to irritate the eyes; “get on with it” you think. When it does kick in, Shechter’s world is tremendously influenced and cross referenced to “Uprising” repeating movement and ideas from the original work yet, like in a poorly conceived movie sequel, it’s just not as good. Shechter’s vision is an apocalyptic battleground where people are isolated and disturbed and fail to communicate or even make contact with another punctuated by a grating industrial bleepy soundtrack which intermittently assaults the ears with squeals, rewinds and interference which fundamentally fails to enhance the experience. But he doesn’t seem to have anything to say about this state of affairs… it just is. His lack of intellectual conception for the piece is encapsulated in the moment when one dancer approaches the front of the stage and mournfully holds up a handwritten sign: “Don’t follow leaders” staring emptily into the audience. The gesture’s serious intent is lost behind the cliche (my neighbour collapses into giggles at this point) suddenly it feels like it’s a naive performance for Resolution! rather than the start of a major new professional project.

Why he bothered engaging such classy female dancers as Amy Hollingsworth I can’t imagine – apart from the general kudos of assocation with her excellence – there is little for the women to work with here as they either club together as the guardians of calm and emotion or run like harpies to jump on men’s backs and drag them down in failing desperation. Not the best sexual politics for the day and age. Yet, Shechter does male choreography brilliantly, even if I don’t think it works here. However, it’s a style very personal to Shechter and it feels like he is trying to clone himself and his exact quirks through his dancers rather than creating a new and objective choreographic vocabulary.

Granted, this is work in progress and I hope that the piece is better received in the more austere environment of the Southbank Centre and more fully realised by the time it reaches Sadlers in September as “In Your Rooms” can’t begin to compete with its predecessor and it looks alarmingly like Shecter is a one trick pony for now.