Grand Finale - Sadler's Wells and on tour
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
INTERNATIONALLY celebrated choreographer Hofesh Shechter will return to Sadler’s Wells this autumn (September 12 to September 16, 2017) with his latest work, Grand Finale, a spectacularly bold and ambitious new piece featuring ten dancers.
Designed by Tom Scutt with lighting by Tom Visser, this dynamic new work sees the company return to live music, played on stage by a hearty band of musicians, who perform an original score to the backtrack of Shechter’s trademark cinematic electronic sounds and vocal chants creating an epic melody.
The production will preview at the Theatre Royal Plymouth prior to receiving its world premiere at La Villette in Paris in a co-production with Théâtre de la Ville on June 14, followed by an extensive international tour to leading venues and festivals in the UK and around the world.
Shechter’s vision is of a world in freefall – a spiralling of surreal scenes and emotions catapulting humanity towards its own cultural abyss. Mythic and elemental, Grand Finale is at once comic, bleak and beautiful, evoking a world at odds with itself, full of anarchic energy and violent comedy.
Filtering this irrepressible, protean force, Shechter creates a vision of the end of days, capturing this catalytic upheaval at a time of ineffable extremes.
The company’s exceptional ensemble of dancers come from eight different countries. They are Chien-Ming Chang, Frédéric Despierre, Rachel Fallon, Mickael Frappat, Yeji Kim, Kim Kohlmann, Erion Kruja, Merel Lammers, Attila Ronai and Diogo Sousa with Associate Director Bruno Guillore.
NB: Priority booking opens for Patrons and members from May 15. Public booking opens May 22.
Also in 2017, Hofesh Shechter Company continues its work with choreographers and dancers from East London as part of a three year talent development programme that culminates in a spectacular outdoor performance at the Tower of London in summer 2018. East Wall is co-produced with East London Dance, Historic Royal Palaces and LIFT.
Also at Sadle’s Wells: The Richard Alston Dance Company’s triple bill comprising Tangent, Chacony and Gypsy Mixture (June 16 and June 17) and Jasmin Vardimon’s adaptation of Pinocchio (Autumn 2017).