POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED - MARKETING PACK - Le Bateau Feu
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Image: Hofesh Shechter Company
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED
MARKETING PACK
CONTENTS
COMPANY INFORMATION ...................................................................................................................... 3
MARKETING ASSETS ................................................................................................................................ 4
BROCHURE COPY..................................................................................................................................... 5
SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE .......................................................................................................................... 6
PRESS QUOTES ........................................................................................................................................ 7
KEY AUDIENCES, MESSAGES, FRONT OF HOUSE AND BOX OFFICE GUIDANCE FOR POLITICAL MOTHER
UNPLUGGED............................................................................................................................................ 8
BOX OFFICE BRIEFING NOTES ............................................................................................................... 10
CREDITS ................................................................................................................................................. 11
FOR HOFESH SHECHTER COMPANY ...................................................................................................... 12
ABOUT THE COMPANY.......................................................................................................................... 13
BIOGRAPHIES ........................................................................................................................................ 14
2
COMPANY INFORMATION
Address: Hofesh Shechter Company, Somerset House, New Wing, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 37017490
Email: info@hofesh.co.uk
Website: www.hofesh.co.uk
Twitter: www.twitter.co.uk/hofeshco @HofeshCo
Facebook: www.facebook.com/hofeshco
Instagram: www.instagram.com/hofeshco
Youtube: www.youtube.com/hofeshshechterco
Hashtag: #PMU
Registered Company no. 6737326
VAT no. 946132427
Hofesh Shechter Company is a registered charity in England and Wales. Registered no. 1130255
COMPANY APPROVAL
The Company must sign-off on all marketing materials created. This includes print (brochures,
posters, flyers, programmes etc), venue websites and video.
PRESS CALLS & INTERVIEWS, FILMING AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Please note that all press calls and press interviews must be agreed with the company. Filming and
photography of any rehearsals, technical work or performances is not allowed without prior written
agreement from the company.
POST-SHOW TALKS & PARTICIPATION WORK
Post-show talks and workshops with the company’s dancers can be arranged by contacting
takepart@hofesh.co.uk
COMPANY MERCHANDISE
We have hand printed Hofesh t-shirts and the Political Mother album available for purchase from
our Ebay store: http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/hofeshco
UK Press Contact International Press Marketing
Clióna Roberts
cliona@crpr.co.uk info@hofesh.co.uk info@hofesh.co.uk
T: +44 (0) 20 7704 6224
3
MARKETING ASSETS
Production Images:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c801w81c1yoygy6/AADc2fKSL_2MNS4lcBYYDJi_a?dl=0
Photo Credits are contained within the Dropbox.
Rehearsal Images:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wa68tfcciy3wwti/AACW-ih_VmQ-NVmUxhNQQKpia?dl=0
Photo Credits are contained within the Dropbox.
Animation Stills:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ewqao5v5gun2k87/AABb7LGEPnKTI98XYfu9KWPLa?dl=0
Photo Credits are contained within the Dropbox.
Production trailer:
https://vimeo.com/413047418
Headshots of Hofesh Shechter:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/sg1rdik5k7q8vw1/AAC2_yL-FGQjYzbn16oQCgmqa?dl=0
Photo Credits are contained within the Dropbox.
HSC logos and branding guide:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hik9u5qo79rs1os/AACWmdqW9W4HqUUoPPSOg5G2a?dl=0
For full programme information please contact: info@hofesh.co.uk
Tour Dates 2021
Tour dates to be announced
Image: Agathe Poupeney
4BROCHURE COPY
HOFESH SHECHTER COMPANY PRESENTS
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED
CHOREOGRAPHY & MUSIC BY HOFESH SHECHTER
PERFORMED BY SHECHTER II
In 2020, Hofesh Shechter celebrated the 10th anniversary of his iconic masterpiece Political Mother
with a powerful new version for Shechter II.
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED will invoke the ferocity and spirit of the original in a new era and
for a new generation of dancers, selected from the most inspiring young artists across the globe.
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED will draw you into a world of raw emotion and intense sensations,
driven by Shechter’s contagious tribal movement, a new landscape of digital, animated projections
and the dancers’ extraordinary skill and honesty.
Danced to a bespoke, new recording of Shechter’s music this will be a dance experience like no
other.
★★★★★ ‘... as ambitious and as heads-down, hair-prickingly exhilarating as modern dance gets
…’ (Mark Monahan, The Telegraph, on Political Mother, 2010)
Choreography and Music Hofesh Shechter
Original Lighting Design Lee Curran
Original Costume Design Merle Hensel
Video Projection Designer Shay Hamias
Musical Collaborators Nell Catchpole, Yaron Engler
Percussion Arrangements by Hofesh Shechter, Yaron Engler
Additional Music: J.S. Bach, Cliff Martinez, Joni Mitchell, Giuseppe Verdi
On soundtrack: Christopher Allan (cello), Rebekah Allan (viola), Laura Anstee (cello), Nell Catchpole
(viola), Tim Harries (double bass), Andrew Maddick (viola), Kai West (double bass), Yaron Engler
(drums), Dom Goundar (drums), Joseph Ashwin (guitar), Joel Harries (guitar)
Please note our co-commissioner credits must be included in venue brochures and on venue websites:
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED is produced by Hofesh Shechter Company and co-commissioned by
Théâtre de la Ville Paris, HOME Manchester, düsseldorf festival! with production support from
Fondazione I Teatri Reggio Emilia and a production residency at DanceEast, Ipswich.
Hofesh Shechter Company gratefully receives support towards the delivery of Shechter II 2020,
which includes project funding from The Foyle Foundation, The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation
and the International Music and Art Foundation, and core funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
and the Garfield Weston Foundation.
Hofesh Shechter Company is supported using public funding through Arts Council England and
benefits from the support of BNP Paribas Foundation for the development of its projects.
Political Mother premiered on 20 May 2010, at the Brighton Festival, UK.
5SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED
Hofesh Shechter’s acclaimed production celebrates its 10th anniversary
Choreography and Music Hofesh Shechter
Original Lighting Design Lee Curran
Original Costume Design Merle Hensel
Video Projection Designer Shay Hamias
Musical Collaborators Nell Catchpole, Yaron Engler
Percussion Arrangements by Hofesh Shechter, Yaron Engler
2020 marked the 10th anniversary of the universally acclaimed classic Political Mother. To celebrate
this iconic masterpiece, Hofesh Shechter Company created POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED, a
potent new version performed by Shechter II, their renowned apprentice company.
Danced to a bespoke, new recording of Shechter’s music and accompanied by a landscape of
designed, digital animated projections, POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED will invoke the ferocity and
spirit of the original for a new era.
The Shechter II programme continues to build on the company’s commitment to developing young
artists. Few up-and-coming dancers have the chance to perform in different spaces to different
audiences supported by an experienced creative and technical team. Shechter II provides the next
generation of world-class dancers the opportunity to create new work; be mentored by long-
standing HSC members and perform at world-renowned venues - providing a springboard into the
world of professional dance.
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED is produced by Hofesh Shechter Company and co-commissioned by
Théâtre de la Ville Paris, HOME Manchester, düsseldorf festival! with production support from
Fondazione I Teatri Reggio Emilia and a production residency at DanceEast, Ipswich.
Hofesh Shechter Company gratefully receives support towards the delivery of Shechter II 2020,
which includes project funding from The Foyle Foundation, The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation
and the International Music and Art Foundation, and core funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
and the Garfield Weston Foundation.
6PRESS QUOTES
ABOUT HOFESH SHECHTER
‘The mighty contemporary choreographer – a combination of dance-maker and rock-star, but with film-director
sensibilities.’
– The Times
‘One of the British dance scene’s hottest properties, the creator of works that are full of raw, visceral energy,
set to blasting percussive scores that he composes himself.’
– New York Times
“There is no sitting in thoughtful contemplation at a Shechter gig. For pure, heart-pounding excitement, there is
simply no one to touch him.”
– Daily Express
ABOUT POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED
‘The choreographer could have added Reloaded because he has cut and reassembled the show, and added a
superb set design by introducing black and white video projections, that are often abstract but occasionally
figurative, superbly produced by Shay Hamias.’
‘Political Mother has not aged a bit. It even finds a new modernity with these young performers, who are all
excellent.’
– Jean-Frédéric Saumont, Danses avec la plume
‘Getting goose bumps is the very least you can expect from a Hofesh Shechter show’
‘ Originally created with live music, it is now danced to recorded music, alongside previously unseen
video design that gives the piece a new colour. The artists of the junior company Shechter II appear
in this version that is more “rock n roll”.
- Le Monde
ABOUT POLITICAL MOTHER
★★★★★ ‘… as ambitious and as heads-down, hair-prickingly exhilarating as modern dance gets'
– Mark Monahan, The Telegraph
★★★★ ‘In terms of this single image Shechter dares us to rethink the history of the world.’
‘Hofesh Shechter's latest work detonates on stage in a scattershot of shattering political imagery ...
Shechter has created a work of galvanising challenging power …’
‘In Political Mother, Shechter returns to his most characteristic theme, puzzling over the mechanisms
of state and society, but his focus here is on the ways in which ideals of camaraderie, duty and
service can be annexed and brutalised by a repressive power.’
– Judith Mackrell, The Guardian
‘… a noisy, brutal, no-holds-barred attack on power and its destructive, abusive agenda ... delivered
like a roar of defiance in the face of an omnipotent, malevolent force. It’s visceral, painful and very,
very exciting … even in the dark void at its centre there is humanity and tenderness, never quite
extinguished.’
– Debra Craine, The Times
7KEY AUDIENCES, MESSAGES, FRONT OF HOUSE AND BOX
OFFICE GUIDANCE FOR POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED
Target audiences for this production include those interested in dance, theatre, music, film and visual
arts, and the generally curious.
KEY AUDIENCES & MESSAGES
EXPERIENCED DANCE AUDIENCES
Hofesh Shechter is acknowledged as one of the most exciting artists making stage work today, and
his distinctive dance style is recognised by dance lovers all over the world. Political Mother is one of
his most iconic creations and we are excited to celebrate its 10th anniversary with fans around the
world with this new creation. POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED will be danced to a bespoke, new
recording of Shechter’s music and accompanied by a landscape of designed, digital animated
projections, invoking the ferocity and spirit of the original for a new era.
MUSIC AUDIENCES
Hofesh Shechter is both a choreographer and a composer, who creates the music for all his
creations. Before coming to London, he studied music in Paris and was the drummer in a rock band
called The Human Beings. His scores are atmospheric and driving, creating a symbiotic relationship
of music and movement affecting and inspiring each other. Attending a Hofesh Shechter
performance has been compared with attending a rock gig, with his works having been performed at
the Brixton Academy and The Roundhouse.
THEATRE AND FILM AUDIENCES
Hofesh Shechter’s works react to and comment on the world we live in through the use of powerful
and emotionally affecting scenes and imagery, created by a compelling fusion of movement, music
and lighting.
Self-confessed Stanley Kubrick fan Shechter takes a lot of inspiration staging dance from films,
clearly demonstrating ‘film director sensibilities’ (The Times). In 2018, he produced his first dance
film, Clowns, which was commissioned by the BBC. For POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED, he is
working with video projection designer Shay Hamias to create unique digital animated projections.
Shay has worked on projects as diverse as the Royal Opera House pointe shoe appeal and the title
sequence to Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd.
AUDIENCES NEW TO DANCE
No prior knowledge of dance, or any of Hofesh Shechter’s previous works, is necessary to have an
exhilarating experience at this production. His work is about instinctive, emotional reactions and
enjoyment of dance and music. Every member of the audience is empowered to create their own,
personal interpretation of what they experience.
8AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION
We work with an audience segmentation tool called Audience Spectrum, developed by The
Audience Agency (www.theaudienceagency.org). Based on the engagement with and attitudes
towards culture, Audience Spectrum segments the UK population into 10 different audience profiles
with high, medium and low engagement in the arts.
Even though Audience Spectrum was specifically developed based on UK population data, the
detailed description of each profile and suggestions how to best engage with them is generally
useful to create ideas of how to promote the production to different groups.
Political Mother
Based on data from our 2015/16 performances of Political Mother in Bristol and Birmingham, the
most prominent audience segments were:
Experience Seekers (25%)
Metroculturals (18%)
Commuterland Culturebuffs & Dormitory Dependables (13% each)
Shechter II (SHOW)
The most prominent segments for Shechter II’s 2018 tour with SHOW, based on 9 UK venues in and
outside London, were:
Metroculturals (25%)
Experience Seekers (19%)
Commuterland Culturebuffs & Dormitory Dependables (15% each)
Metroculturals are a highly engaged, but also very localised segment, most of which (85%) live in
London and the South. Metroculturals are the best prospects for arts attendance, confident in their
own knowledge and represent the best prospects for new work and cultural innovation, but
competition for their attention is high, and many tend towards their own preferred artform or style.
Experience Seekers are highly active, diverse, social and ambitious singles and couples and younger
people who engage with the arts on a regular basis. Living close to city centres, they tend to be
digitally savvy and are often students, recent graduates and in the early to mid-stages of their
careers.
They are an ideal segment to target for POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED, a production that keeps a
finger on the pulse with its mixture of driving beats, political commenting, club inspired moves and
high-quality digital animation technology.
More information about Audience Spectrum and how to engage with the different segments can be
found here: www.theaudienceagency.org/off-the-shelf/audience-spectrum.
WHAT IS THE RUNNING TIME?
68 minutes no interval
AGE GUIDANCE 13 +
THE PERFORMANCE CONTAINS LOUD MUSIC, HAZE AND 30 SECONDS OF MILD
STROBE EFFECT
FRONT OF HOUSE BRIEFING INFORMATION:
Due to sound levels in the show, we recommend that you provide foyer signage signalling loud music
in POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED and make earplugs available to audience prior to the
performance.
9BOX OFFICE BRIEFING NOTES
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED is a powerful, intoxicating live
dance show with unique digital animated projections – a dance
experience like no other.
UK-based Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter has created
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED. It requires no prior dance
knowledge and is suitable for anyone with an open mind or a love of
live performance or a sense of adventure.
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED will be performed by Shechter II, a
company of young, extremely talented professional dancers, who
have been selected from almost 1000 international applicants last
summer.
Hofesh Shechter’s movement style is fluid and organic, comes deep
from within and is influenced by folk dance and freestyle elements. It
has been described as ‘tribal’ and is emotionally powerful.
Hofesh has been described as ‘a combination of dance-maker and
rock-star’ as he also composes the scores for his performances. His
trademark musical style is percussion-based, and watching a Hofesh
Shechter performance has been compared to being at a rock
concert.
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED celebrates the 10th anniversary of
Political Mother, one of Hofesh Shechter’s most successful
creations, which has been seen by over 100,000 people worldwide.
Customer: "I have already seen Political Mother, is this the same
show?”
There are new elements in POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED,
additional to a new cast:
a new and bespoke recording of Hofesh Shechter’s music
specifically designed digital, animated projections
10CREDITS
HOFESH SHECHTER COMPANY PRESENTS
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED
CHOREOGRAPHY & MUSIC BY HOFESH SHECHTER
PERFORMED BY SHECHTER II
CREATIVE TEAM
Choreography and Music Hofesh Shechter
Original Lighting Design Lee Curran
Original Costume Design Merle Hensel
Video Projection Designer Shay Hamias
Musical Collaborators Nell Catchpole, Yaron Engler
Percussion Arrangements by Hofesh Shechter, Yaron Engler
SHECHTER II
Jared Brown, Jack Butler, Chieh-Hann Chang, Evelyn Hart, Charles Heinrich, Evelien Jansen, Rosalia Panepinto,
Jill Goh Su-Jen, Niek Wagenaar
MUSIC
Score Hofesh Shechter
Musical Collaborators Nell Catchpole, Yaron Engler
Percussion Arrangements by Hofesh Shechter, Yaron Engler
Additional Music J.S. Bach, Cliff Martinez, Joni Mitchell, Giuseppe Verdi
On soundtrack: Christopher Allan (cello), Rebekah Allan (viola), Laura Anstee (cello), Nell Catchpole (viola), Tim
Harries (double bass), Andrew Maddick (viola), Kai West (double bass), Yaron Engler (drums), Dom Goundar
(drums), Joseph Ashwin (Guitar), Joel Harries (Guitar)
The score for Political Mother was created in collaboration with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and
barbicanbite09, with research supported by Jerwood Studio at Sadler’s Wells.
The use of Solaris by Cliff Martinez is by arrangement with EMI Music Publishing Limited.
PRODUCTION TEAM
VARIES VENUE TO VENUE – please contact info@hofesh.co.uk
If you are interested in programming the company, please contact info@hofesh.co.uk for more information.
COMMISSIONERS & PARTNERS
POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED is produced by Hofesh Shechter Company and co-commissioned by Théâtre de la Ville
Paris, HOME Manchester, düsseldorf festival! with production support from Fondazione I Teatri Reggio Emilia and a
production residency at DanceEast, Ipswich.
Hofesh Shechter Company gratefully receives support towards the delivery of Shechter II 2020, which includes project
funding from The Foyle Foundation, The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation and the International Music and Art
Foundation, and core funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation.
Hofesh Shechter Company is supported using public funding through Arts Council England and benefits from the support of
BNP Paribas Foundation for the development of its projects.
Political Mother premiered on 20 May 2010, at the Brighton Festival, UK.
For full programme notes and credits, please contact: info@hofesh.co.uk
11FOR HOFESH SHECHTER COMPANY
Board of Directors: Gerard Lemos (Chair), Theresa Beattie, Steven Fogel, Jason Gonsalves, Jonny
Kanagasooriam, Martine Simmonds
Patron: Georgia Rosengarten
Founding Patrons: Angela Bernstein CBE, Robin Pauley, Bruno Wang
Artistic Director Hofesh Shechter OBE
Executive Producer Colette Hansford
Associate Artistic Director Bruno Guillore
Head of Operations Becky Ruffell
Head of Development Claire Lee
Head of Production and Touring Adam Hooper
Learning Associate David Steele
Executive Assistant Melanie Clark
Producer – Artist Development Lucy Moelwyn-Hughes
Administrator Lia Deans
Finance Officer Denise Middleton
Publicist (UK) Clióna Roberts for CRPR crpr.co.uk
www.hofesh.co.uk
Hofesh Shechter is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells and Hofesh Shechter Company is Resident
Company at Brighton Dome.
Image: Agathe Poupeney
12ABOUT THE COMPANY
Hofesh Shechter Company is a boundary-breaking dance company, producing exceptional work
created by Hofesh Shechter, with an extraordinary company of internationally diverse dancers at its
core.
Based in the UK, but playing on major stages throughout the world, our work celebrates and inspires
the freedom of the human spirit.
We believe that dance has the ability to prod and poke and tap into our deepest emotions; an
instinctive, deep-rooted part of ourselves that we rarely access in modern life.
We dance to know what it feels like, not just to live, but to be alive. In all our work, we strive to
move ourselves, and our audiences, beyond reason.
In 2018, the apprentice company of Hofesh Shechter Company, Shechter II, was established to
provide young artists at the beginning of their performance careers with the opportunity of salaried
work within a professional company context.
The eight dancers of Shechter II 2018 successfully performed Hofesh Shechter’s SHOW to audiences
worldwide, for which they received the 2017 / 2018 Prix de la critique award for Meilleurs
Interprètes – Best Performers at Théâtre de la Ville – Paris, where they had 29 sold-out
performances over two seasons.
They also took part in East Wall, a large-scale spectacle of dance and live music at the Tower of
London, in partnership with East London Dance, Historic Royal Palaces and LIFT, which was rated as
one of the best dance moments of the 21st Century by The Guardian.
In 2020 the ten international dancers of Shechter II, who were selected from nearly one thousand
applicants, worked together with Hofesh to create a potent new version of his iconic masterpiece
Political Mother, POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED. New online audiences were reached through live
streams of POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED from Théâtre des Abbesses in Paris. In 2021, Shechter II
plans a return to live theatre audiences and will feature in a new short dance film for summer
release.
For more details of forthcoming work, to access our learning resources and to join our mailing list,
please visit www.hofesh.co.uk.
Image: Agathe Poupeney
13BIOGRAPHIES
HOFESH SHECHTER ̶ CHOREOGRAPHY & MUSIC ̶ FULL BIOGRAPHY
Choreographer Hofesh Shechter OBE is recognised as one of the most exciting artists making stage
work today. Inspired by influences as diverse as Israeli folkdance, rock-gigs, installation art and film,
his immersive and high-energy dance work is performed to percussive, cinematic musical scores that
he composes himself. Since 2008 his eponymous company has performed at leading festivals and on
major stages from Rio to Sydney, Shanghai to New York, winning him a passionate worldwide
following.
Following his choreographic debut, Fragments, in 2003, Hofesh was commissioned by The Place
Prize in 2004 to create Cult, winning the Audience Choice Award. This was followed in 2006 by
Uprising, a work for seven men that has since been staged on companies around the world.
In 2007, The Place, Southbank Centre and Sadler’s Wells Theatre commissioned Hofesh to create In
your rooms, which earned him the Critics’ Circle Award for Best Choreography (Modern). In 2008,
Hofesh formed Hofesh Shechter Company, which rapidly established an international reputation.
Sadler’s Wells subsequently commissioned him to create Uprising/In your rooms: The
Choreographer’s Cut (2009), which was performed at London’s iconic Roundhouse. That same year
Hofesh was commissioned by Brighton Festival to create The Art of Not Looking Back for six female
dancers.
His first full-length work Political Mother – commissioned by venues in Paris, Lyon, Rome, London
and Barcelona – also had its premiere at Brighton Festival in 2010, and a year later, he re-visited the
work to create Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut, which toured rock venues in Berlin,
Montpellier, London, Paris and Hong Kong. Hofesh collaborated with Antony Gormley in 2012 to
create Survivor for the Barbican Centre. His 2013 work Sun toured extensively after opening at
Melbourne Festival. July 2015 saw the premiere of his trilogy, barbarians, at Berliner Festspiele. As
part of #Hofest (2015), a 4-week season showcasing a range of Hofesh’s work across four iconic
London venues, he premiered Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, co-directed with John Fulljames, at the
Royal Opera House.
Grand Finale, his current full-length work with live musicians, which premiered at La Villette /
Théâtre de la Ville in Paris on 14 June 2017, continues to tour worldwide to critical acclaim. In 2018,
Grand Finale was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production and for
Outstanding Production in the Bessies. It was also named Production of the Year by tanz magazine.
In 2019, Grand Finale won a Dora Award for Outstanding Touring Production. It was nominated for
Best Dance Production in the 2019 Helpmann Awards, while Hofesh himself received a nomination
in the category ‘Best Choreography in a Ballet, Dance or Physical Theatre Production’ for Grand
Finale.
His work with young emerging artists remains a core passion and in 2018, the company’s biennial,
one year apprentice programme was formed with a cohort of 8 dancers who performed SHOW and
received the Prix de la critique award for Meilleurs Interprètes - Best Performers – at Théâtre des
Abbesses in Paris. In 2020, a new cohort of dancers premiered POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED
online at Théâtre des Abbesses in Paris – a reworked revival of Political Mother, to celebrate the 10th
anniversary of this iconic production.
LIGHT: Bach Dances, winner of the Fedora – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet, will see Hofesh
unite again with co-director John Fulljames in a co-production with Royal Danish Opera, premiering
on 8 May 2021. In this same year his new full-length creation Double Murder will premiere with his
own company.
14Hofesh has also worked as a choreographer in theatre, television and opera notably at The Royal
Court Theatre for Motortown by Simon Stephens (2006), The Arsonists (2007), and for the National
Theatre’s award winning production of Saint Joan (2007). In television Hofesh choreographed the hit
dance sequence ‘Maxxie’s Dance’ for the opening of the second series of Channel 4’s popular drama
Skins. In 2013 Hofesh created the choreography for Nico Mulhy’s opera Two Boys at the
Metropolitan Opera, New York. Hofesh was Guest Director of Brighton Festival in 2014. He
premiered a new work Untouchable (2015) for the Royal Ballet, at the Royal Opera House performed
to a score co-composed by Hofesh and long-time collaborator, Nell Catchpole. He choreographed
Bartlett Sher’s new version of Fiddler On The Roof (2015) on Broadway, for which he was nominated
for a Tony Award. He continues to create new work with Nederlands Dans Theater - Clowns (2016),
Vladimir (2018) and From England with Love (2021). He also created a special version of his iconic all-
female production, The Art of Not Looking Back, with Paris Opera Ballet (2018), and the company's
first dance film, Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns, was broadcast by the BBC in September 2018 to great
acclaim.
Hofesh Shechter is an associate artist of Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Hofesh Shechter Company are a
Resident Company at Brighton Dome. In 2018, he was awarded an honorary OBE for Services to
Dance.
HOFESH SHECHTER ̶ CHOREOGRAPHY & MUSIC ̶ SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Choreographer Hofesh Shechter OBE is recognised as one of the most exciting artists making stage
work today, renowned for composing atmospheric musical scores to compliment the unique
physicality of his movement. He is Artistic Director of the UK-based Hofesh Shechter Company,
formed in 2008. The company are resident at Brighton Dome and Shechter is an Associate Artist of
Sadler’s Wells.
Hofesh Shechter’s repertoire for the company includes Uprising (2006), In your rooms (2007), The
Art of Not Looking Back (2009), Political Mother (2010), Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut
(2011), Sun (2013), barbarians (2015), Grand Finale (2017), SHOW (2018) and POLITICAL MOTHER
UNPLUGGED (2020). Grand Finale was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Dance
Production.
Shechter has also staged and choreographed works on leading international dance companies
including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Batsheva Ensemble, Candoco Dance Company,
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater 1, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet and
Royal Ballet Flanders.
He has choreographed for theatre, television and opera, notably at the Metropolitan Opera (New
York) for Nico Mulhy’s Two Boys, the Royal Court on Motortown and The Arsonists, the National
Theatre on Saint Joan and for the Channel 4 series Skins. As part of #HOFEST, a 4 week festival
celebrating Shechter’s work across 4 iconic London venues, he co-directed Gluck’s Orphée et
Eurydice with John Fulljames at the Royal Opera House. In 2016 he received a Tony Award
nomination for his choreography for the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof.
In 2018 Hofesh Shechter was awarded an honorary OBE for Services to Dance and the company's
first dance film, Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns, was broadcast by the BBC in September to great acclaim.
In 2020, Hofesh Shechter Company was named the winner of the Fedora – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS
Prize for Ballet for LIGHT: Bach Dances, in collaboration with Royal Danish Opera and co-directed by
Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.
Hofesh Shechter’s new creation Double Murder will premiere in autumn 2021.
15SHAY HAMIAS – VIDEO PROJECTION
Shay Hamias is video designer and animation director.
Shay graduated from the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in London with a First-Class
degree in animation, a medium that combines his passions for movement, dance and visual arts.
It was at NFTS that Shay undertook his first collaborations with choreographer Hofesh Shechter: an
MTV Art Break ident and an experiment in the meeting point of dance and video projection funded
by a research grant from The Place For Dance, London.
In his practice, Shay merges his design knowledge and past dancer experience to realise the visual
possibilities lying between design, motion and narrative, to craft unique and compelling stories. He
has worked in many styles and techniques from digital to hand-drawn and stop-motion.
In 2018, Shay was appointed artist in residence at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he
worked with medievalist professor Anthony Bale on a Leverhulme Trust-funded project to develop a
new interface between contemporary digital animation and medieval manuscript studies. This
resulted in projection work for two exhibitions at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the Peltz Gallery,
London.
Other awards include a British Animation Award and a DA&D wood pencil, both in 2014.
Other defining moments in Shay’s creative career include animating, directing and designing the title
sequence of Tim Burton’s Sweeny Todd; working on film titles for HBO and the BBC; Animation
directing and designing the Royal Opera House’s “100 Dancers” a short film about Ballet Shoes, and
creating animation for the Prince of Egypt musical at the Dominion theatre in London’s West End.
http://www.shayhamias.com/
LEE CURRAN ̶ LIGHTING DESIGNER
Lee’s work with Hofesh includes Orpheé et Eurydice (ROH & Teatro Alla Scala), Untouchable (Royal
Ballet), Sun, Political Mother, The Art of Not Looking Back, In Your Rooms, and Uprising.
Other dance includes: Blak Whyte Gray (Boy Blue Entertainment); Rosalind, Within Her Eyes,
Everything & Nothing (James Cousins); Tomorrow, Frames, Curious Conscience (Rambert).
Theatre credits include Constellations (Royal Court/West End/Broadway/UK tour); Jesus Christ
Superstar (Regent’s Park Open Air); Gundog, Road, Nuclear War, a profoundly affectionate
passionate devotion to someone (-noun), X, Linda (Royal Court); Summer & Smoke (Almeida); The
Lady From The Sea, Splendour (Donmar Warehouse); Jubilee (Royal Exchange, Manchester & Lyric
Hammersmith); Cover My Tracks (Old Vic); Hamlet, Blindsided (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Doctor
Faustus, Love’s Sacrifice (RSC); Imogen (Globe); The Weir (ETT); The Spoils (West End); Black Men
Walking (Eclipse/touring); A Number (Nuffield/Young Vic); Mametz (National Theatre Wales); Protest
Song (National); Depart (LIFT); Boys Will Be Boys (Headlong/Bush); Kissing the Shotgun Goodnight
(UK Tour).
MERLE HENSEL ̶ COSTUME DESIGNER
Merle Hensel works internationally in a wide variety of styles and genres.
Dance includes: Hofesh Shechter Company: Political Mother (costume), Sun (set); Ballett am Rhein:
Tenebre; Frantic Assembly: Lovesong; Shobana Jeyasingh Dance: Contagion; Fabulous Beast Dance
Theatre: The Bull, James Son of James, Flowerbed; Jasmin Vardimon Dance Company: Park, Justitia
16Theater includes: National Theatre: Protest Song, Top Girls (costume); Royal Court: Mistress
Contract, X, a profoundly affectionate...someone, ear for eye; National Theatre of China: Green Snake
(international touring); National Theatre of Scotland: 27, The Wheel, Macbeth (Tramway, Tokyo,
Broadway), Glasgow Girls; Young Vic: Macbeth, The Shawl; Royal Shakespeare Company: Arden of
Faversham; Complicite: Shun-kin (Barbican, Tokyo); Guthrie Theater: Enemy of the People;
Sophiensaele Berlin: Ippolit (Schauspielhaus Zürich; Münchner Kammerspiele), Royal Exchange: Much
Ado about Nothing, Sophiensaele Berlin: Der Verlorene; Deutsches Theater Gottingen: Kupsch
Opera includes: Oper Graz: Der Vetter aus Dingsta; Vereinigte Bühnen Mönchengladbach: Maria
Stuarda; Kunstfest Weimar: Lunatics. Film includes: Morituri Te Salutant; Baby
Merle is a lecturer at Central St Martins College of Art and Design in London.
NELL CATCHPOLE ̶ MUSIC COLLABORATOR
Nell studied classical violin and holds an MA in Social Anthropology. She specialises in exploring and
creating new work and processes across art forms.
In 1995, she co-founded music theatre company, The Gogmagogs with theatre director, Lucy Bailey,
who have toured extensively worldwide. Nell has since composed music for several of Lucy’s theatre
productions.
Nell has worked as a creative partner and musical director with choreographer Hofesh Shechter
since 2007. In 2015, she co-composed the music for Untouchable with Hofesh, a new piece
commissioned by the Royal Ballet and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.
She has worked extensively with Brian Eno, arranging and recording strings on his solo albums as
well as with John Cale and U2. Other recording credits include string arrangements for Mumford and
Sons on their first two albums. In 2012, she composed and devised the music for the live band in
Kate Tempest’s Brand New Ancients which won a Herald Angel at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe
Festival.
Nell is Course Leader on the Masters in Leadership Programme at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama.
YARON ENGLER ̶ MUSIC COLLABORATOR
Yaron Engler is a drummer, speaker and educator. He has been involved in artistic and educational
projects across Europe, USA, Asia and Australia and was a featured speaker at TEDxJaffa.
He is a long-time collaborator with Hofesh and played a leading role in the creation of some of the
company’s major productions and tours around the world.
He was involved in the creation and tours of Akram Khan’s piece Until The Lions (2016). Yaron
composed the music for the 2016 Open Theatre Production of Shakespeare’s play Henry V and the
opening piece of the 2014 Walled City Tattoo in Derry.
He is the founder of UpBeat where he uses music, drums and rhythms as tools to help organisations
create long lasting transformation in the areas of Leadership, Teamwork and Communication.
Yaron is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Berklee College of Music and holds a certificate in Body
Mind Healing.
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