Venue MK, Milton Keynes
May 28, 2022
It starts without warning. In an instant the houselights are off and we are away with the dancers of Shechter II, Hofesh Shechter Company’s award-winning development and performance training programme top young dancers, on another of the choreographer’s visceral journeys into music and dance. It’s rhythmic, energetic, at times fierce, but always captivating.
A reboot of the work made for the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani in 2019, Contemporary Dance 2.0 comes in five sections, each announced by dancers holding handwritten signs: Pop, With Feelings, Mother, Contemporary Dance, and The End. It features the intensity of Shechter’s signature ensemble work to an eclectic score that runs from his own throbbing creations to J.S Bach and Frank Sinatra.
From the second of the sudden beginning, the dancers ignite the theatre with their energy. Yet, as much as the dance gushes out of them, it’s far from uncontrolled. In this, they slip with delight into the choreographer’s writing, always furious and jerky, proliferating by mass effect, and always functioning in the impact of the gesture.
Photo Todd MacDonald
In ‘Pop’, the dancers most often form a compact group for mass effect, although I can’t help wondering how much more powerful that original Swedish version must have been with double the dancers. Their furious jerky movements are clearly inspired by clubbing. It’s all about percussive rhythm. There are hints of street dance and hip hop, while snake hips suggest something more Latin. There are references to previous Shechter creations too. It’s actually not as loud as you might imagine and, sometimes, Shechter’s electro rock soundtrack even becomes muffled, as it would if you found a relatively quiet corner in a club.
Although the movement in ‘With Feelings’ is not dissimilar, the dance comes with a slightly gentler, more refined quality. ‘Mother’ returns to the anger and turmoil of the opening. It barely seems possible, but I’m sure the energy is ramped up.
And then ‘Contemporary Dance’ and something very unexpected: J.S Bach’s Air on a G String. The light, almost ethereal music, while in many ways the polar opposite to the movement vocabulary, actually sits very comfortably alongside it.
‘Part V: The End’ suggests the end of an evening; a sort of wind down. It’s a looking back too, as, to the sound of Frank Sinatra singing ‘My Way’, and in typical Shechter fashion, the dancers, now sweaty but still with plenty of energy, reprise what has gone before, especially the opening section.
Contemporary Dance 2.0 continues on tour through summer 2022. Visit hofesh.co.uk for dates, venues and booking links.