Hofesh Shechter to become new Artist in Residence at Gauthier Dance / Stuttgart

[Angela]

Today's news makes us proud and very, very happy: Hofesh Shechter has agreed to become Artist-in-Residence of Gauthier Dance for the next three years! After Marco Goecke, this is the second time that Eric Gauthier has succeeded in winning a choreographer of world fame for a close collaboration with Theaterhaus Stuttgart. And as with Marco Goecke, this last official step feels completely natural. Eric Gauthier comments: „In the end, the question seemed logical. In the past few months, Hofesh and I have spoken on the phone many times, and exchanged ideas about his works for the next three seasons. That's when I said, half jokingly, ‚Except for Marco, we don't work with anyone else so continuously. You should be our resident choreographer.‘ There was a short pause and Hofesh said, ‚I'd love to.‘ Of course I took him up on that!“

What is the motivation of the new Artist-in-Residence? Hofesh Shechter: „Creating work for Eric and his company is always pure pleasure – from Eric’s enthusiasm and love of dance and the creative ideas that bubble out of our conversations, to the talent, commitment and versatility of the brilliant Gauthier dancers. The atmosphere in this company is one I simply love – working hard with a spark of joy. Becoming Artist-in-Residence feels like a natural next step in our well-formed relationship and I cannot wait to start working on the ideas we have planned for the next three seasons.“

The head of Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Werner Schretzmeier, is also extremely pleased: „Hofesh Shechter's decision to be our Artist-in-residence is the highest accolade for the work of Eric Gauthier, the dancers of Gauthier Dance and Theaterhaus Stuttgart as a whole. The Stuttgart cultural scene can be proud of this great choreographer.“
 

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Hofesh Shechter
Artist-in-Residence Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart

Beginning in the summer of 2021, Hofesh Shechter is going to contribute one work to the repertoire of Gauthier Dance each year: two world premieres for the company plus the performing rights for a full-length programme.

The first production will be Swan Cake, a new creation for the bill Swan Lakes, which also features world premieres by Marie Chouinard, Marco Goecke and Cayetano Soto and was meant to open this year's COLOURS International Dance Festival. The festival has since been rescheduled for 2022, but the premiere of Swan Lakes on June 24, 2021, will still kick off the Gauthier Dance Summertime programme. Swan Cake will focus on the dark undercurrent of the ballet classic. Instead of the beautiful, the pure and the clean, Shechter shows us driven people who have no home, no place, no choice – but desires, fantasies and dreams. And in doing so, he makes us understand that beneath the surface, a very unique kind of beauty is just waiting to come to light.

For The Seven Sins, Eric Gauthier has invited seven famous choreographers to translate one of the deadly sins into dance – including Hofesh Shechter. The vicious line-up is completed by Aszure Barton, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar, Marco Goecke, Marcos Morau and Sasha Waltz. The premiere is scheduled for March 26, 2022.

We are not revealing the title of the third work just yet. But this much we can say: Hofesh Shechter will entrust Gauthier Dance with a full-length piece that has only been danced by his own Hofesh Shechter Company to date – and will open the 5th COLOURS International Dance Festival in the summer of 2023.


Hofesh Shechter

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. His dual artistic talent was shaped by his years as a dancer with the legendary Batsheva Dance Company and his studies of music in Paris. It was also music that originally brought him to London – as the drummer of the band The Human Beings. Once in the British capital, he launched his career as a choreographer and quickly rose to the top, acclaimed by critics and audiences alike for his dark, visceral dance universe. Since 2008, Shechter has headed the UK-based Hofesh Shechter Company. He is also an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells.
His repertoire for the company includes Uprising (2006), In your rooms (2007), The Art of Not Looking Back (2009), Political Mother (2010), 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), the Royal Court, the National Theatre and for the Channel 4 series Skins. 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. In the same year, the company's first dance film, Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns, was broadcast by the BBC 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.

The partnership between Gauthier Dance and Hofesh Shechter was born in 2017, when Shechter's iconic Uprising was part of the opening production MEGA ISRAEL of the 2nd COLOURS International Dance Festival. Since then, they have always kept in touch. After all, while still in Stuttgart, Shechter had promised Eric Gauthier a creation for the company – which would become his contribution to Swan Lakes. Postponed by a year due to the pandemic, the programme will now premiere on June 24, 2021.