Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns

Reviews

★★★★ ‘Shechter’s work gets under the skin. His music is part of that, the bounding drumbeat on unflagging loop, matched by the repetitive riffs of his dancers. And even without narrative he’s able to create a genuine sense of drama.

'Ten dancers present themselves to the audience, holding hands like guests at a Regency ball. But from a gentle upright jig they fall into crooked-backed, gnarly gallops. There’s civility on the surface, but you can’t hide the ugliness of humanity underneath for long. That’s a very Shechter-esque theme.

'Clowns descends into an orgy of highly choreographed violence. You’d think it OTT until you remember that’s every action film or grisly crime drama. This is what we like to watch, isn’t it? He’s goading us. For fun? We may barely blink at multiple murders on TV, but garotted bodies still tap-dancing, their feet like gunfire? Presented in dance, not a weapon or blood squib in sight, it sticks in the throat. Less realism leads to more disgust somehow, which is something to mull on while being wooed by Shechter’s clowns.' - Lyndsay Winship, The Guardian

 

★★★★ ‘Hofesh Shechter is the renowned Israeli-born, London-based choreographer who in recent years has yanked contemporary dance in all sorts of thrilling new directions...Shechter dived into his new medium with relish. As his camera prowled around the dancers, he also chucked in plenty of slow-mos, artful focus-blurring and (yes) sharp cuts to keep things interesting. The result was what must have been a fascinating introduction for newcomers to Shechter’s work and a taster for the greater creations in his canon, right up to the piece’s dark, witty, immaculately timed climax.’ - Mark Monahan, The Telegraph