The Hofesh Shechter Dance Company will be at The Concert Hall, Brighton on Thursday and Friday to Premier their new dance Political Mother as part of Brighton Festival. In July the company will be dancing at Sadler’s Wells.
Political Mother, rehearsal
“I was impressed with how Sally is able to capture, not only the movements, but also the atmosphere of my work” Hofesh Shechter.
Several weeks ago in Brighton, I drew during rehearsals of Hofesh Shechters’ Political Mother. It was wonderful to draw this company again. Last Autumn I joined them to draw during the early research of this dance. There is something deeply primeval about the choreography. I watched and drew bodies moving in unison, each dancer completely engaged in their own movement. I drew spirals and twists; rounded backs with heads bent submissively to the earth or arched backs with heads thrown up as if attempting unsuccessfully to break free from some unseen force deep within the earth. The rehearsal music was a background hum with a pulse, reminding me of the rhythmic beat of a universal heart.
Hofesh Shechter Dance Company, rehearsals for Political Mother in March 2010
On Friday choreographer Frauke Requardt and director Daniel Kramer’s dance-theatre portrait of composer Mussorgsky was performed at Sadler’s Wells. The nightmare of a man’s chaotic troubled life increasingly fueled by vodka, unfolds through memories that take the audience on a harrowing journey back to his childhood and his ultimate self destruction follows.
Over the last few years I have drawn some of the dancers when they danced with the Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs and they were as fabulous in this production as they were then. The choreography is beautiful and strong and I admit to willing the acting to hurry so I could see and draw more movement.
Pictures from an Exhibition, Sadler’s Wells, 23/4/2010
Seven of my framed drawings are on show at the West End hairdressing salon, Billi Currie at 47 Chiltern Street, London W1U 6LX. Billi is a fantastic stylist, he’s been cutting my hair for the last year, often kindly fitting me in before rushing off to work on a photo shoot. Marcelo does beautiful colour work. The salon has a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere, this is the second time the salon have shown my work.
Frantic Assembly. London 2009. Charcoal on paper
In May 2009 I had a 6 week solo exhibition, “Chasing Shadows” in the West End gallery GV Art. The gallery commissioned Martin Smith and Alex May of Quadratura to work with me and a dancer to make an audio/visual composition responding to my work. The dancer is Laban 3rd year student Alessandra Ruggeri. .
Quadratura had an event at GV Art on March 1st 2010 celebrating the 50th anniversary of Yves Klein’s Monotone Symphony and his Anthropometries, calling it Monotone Symphony 2010. Using technology, a soundscape composed for the event and live dance from three dancers, Quadratura created a mesmerising show of blue shadows and silhouettes, as the dancers moved the shadows remained, faded and built again where the dancers appeared next.