Hofesh Shechter
Hofesh Shechter is recognised as one of the most exciting artists making work for both stage and film and renowned for composing atmospheric musical scores to complement the unique physicality of his movement style.
Choreographer and composer Hofesh Shechter OBE is Artistic Director of UK-based Hofesh Shechter Company, Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells and Artist-in-Residence of Gauthier Dance (2021-2024). His company is Associate Company of the Brighton Dome.
Shechter’s repertoire for his company includes Uprising (2006), In your rooms (2007), The Art of Not Looking Back (2009), Political Mother (2010), Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut (2011), Sun (2013), barbarians (2015), Grand Finale (2017), SHOW (2018), POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED (2020) Double Murder (2021), Contemporary Dance 2.0 (2022) and From England with Love (2024).
Shechter has choreographed for theatre, television and opera, notably at the Metropolitan Opera (New York) for Nico Mulhy’s Two Boys, on Broadway for Bartlett Sher’s Fiddler on the Roof, at the Royal Court for Motortown and The Arsonists, at the National Theatre for Saint Joan and for the Channel 4 series Skins. He has co-directed with John Fulljames on Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice (Royal Opera House and La Scala) and LIGHT: Bach Dances (Royal Danish Opera and Philharmonie de Paris). His works have also been staged by leading UK and international dance companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (USA), Martha Graham Dance Company (USA), Candoco Dance Company (UK), Nederlands Dans Theater 1 (NL), Paris Opera Ballet (FR), Royal Ballet (UK) and Royal Ballet Flanders (BE).
Shechter has directed three award-winning short dance films: Clowns, broadcast by the BBC, POLITICAL MOTHER: The Final Cut and Return. In addition to these, he and his company collaborated with French filmmaker Cédric Klapisch on the feature En corps. The film was released in 2022 alongside a soundtrack composed by Shechter.
He was Guest Director of the Brighton Festival in 2014 and has received many prizes including a Critics’ Circle Award for Choreography in 2007 for In your rooms; the British Theatre Institute’s Award for Excellence in International Dance (2011), a Tony Nomination for his work on Fiddler on the Roof (2016), a nomination for an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production for Grand Finale (2018), and Best Dance Film at Festival de Cannes (2023). In 2018, he was also awarded an honorary OBE for Services to Dance.