The Hofesh Shechter Company has announced #HOFEST, its London season celebrating the diversity of the company’s work and artistic partnerships. #HOFEST will bring together work in September and October across four different venues; the Royal Opera House, Sadler’s Wells, O2 Academy Brixton and Stratford Circus Arts Centre. The four week long season will see the company collaborate with some of the city’s leading arts organisations and most iconic venues, giving audiences the opportunity to experience the breadth of the company’s work.
#HOFEST will be the company’s largest season of work in the capital to date. Through a vibrant programme of events and performances audiences will be able to explore contemporary dance in ways, and venues, that question the perception and push the boundaries of the art form.
The season begins with Shechter’s opera directorial debut with a new production of Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice at the Royal Opera House, featuring the Hofesh Shechter Company. Simultaneously, the company will perform barbarians at Sadler’s Wells in repertory with its Royal Opera House performances. This brand new evening brings together the trilogy, barbarians, in the UK for the first time. Revealing his choreography at its most experimental and intimate, the evening will showcase the voice of the creator and the versatility and talent of his dancers.
#HOFEST will also bring Shechter’s critically-acclaimed Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut to O2 Academy Brixton for the first time. This extraordinary work with 40 dancers and musicians will bring the atmosphere of a rock gig to contemporary dance, creating an experience like no other. In partnership with East London Dance the new apprentice company, Shechter Junior, then returns from its European tour with deGeneration at Stratford Circus. The talented young dancers tackle two previous creations from Shechter, completing the evening with the UK premiere of an earlier work by Shechter, reworked especially.
The season will be complimented by a number of workshops and interactive events across London.