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Festival
Sep 03 2021 18:30
Sep 04 2021 18:30

Teatro Zandonai, Rovereto

POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED

Hofesh Shechter | Shechter II

ITALIAN PREMIER

It was his first full evening work. A revelation. In 2010, POLITICAL MOTHER exploded onto the stage, announcing to the world there was a new choreographer in town, Hofesh Shechter. Israeli born choreographer, musician and composer, Shechter moved to the UK and founded his company in 2008, bringing together his passion for music and movement and creating an instinctual energy capable of pervading body and space and engaging the senses.

Considered an “audio-visual marvel”, he was catapulted into the upper echelons of the world of choreography: he earned the position of “associate artist” at the prestigious Sadler's Wells in London and has since been invited to create works with leading opera and dance companies to include the Nederlands Dans Theater I, the Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris, and Teatro alla Scala in Milan for a choreographed production of Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice. Without ever stopping to create and develop projects for his company, he has even established a  youth arm of his dance company called “Shechter II”, biennual programme for the next generation of emerging artists  – aged 18 to 25 – selected from over 1000 dancers from across the world. For them he not only creates new works but also re-imagines his repertoire.

Two times winner of the Prix de la Critique, in 2015 for Disappearing Act and in 2018 for Show, Shechter II returns – after a year on hold due to the pandemic – with the 10th anniversary celebrations, which actually fell in 2020: POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED, a new version of Shechter's blockbuster creation for these exceptional world-class dancers. A concentrate of Shechter’s dance universe, made up of ground-shaking movements, breathtaking unisons, arms raised above the head in twisting motions, groups fast moving and crawling to pounding percussions and high decibels. Its theme? Totalitarianism and ideological violence, both more topical than ever, for a mind-blowing visual and acoustic journey through colliding worlds.

POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED

Choreography and music Hofesh Shechter
Original lighting design
 Lee Curran
Original costume design 
Merle Hensel
Video projection designer 
Shay Hamias
Musical collaborators 
Nell Catchpole and Yaron Engler
Percussion arrangements 
Yaron Engler and Hofesh Shechter
Dancers 
SHECHTER II Jared Brown, Jack Butler, Chieh-Hann Chang, Evelyn Hart, Charles Heinrich, Evelien Jansen, Rosalia Panepinto, Jill Goh Su-Jen and Niek Wagenaar
Additional music 
J.S. Bach, Cliff Martinez, Joni Mitchell and Giuseppe Verdi
On soundtrack 
Christopher Allan (cello), Rebekah Allan (viola), Laura Anstee (cello), Joseph Ashwin (guitar), Nell Catchpole (viola), Yaron Engler (drums), Dom Goundar (drums), Joel Harries (guitar), Tim Harries (double bass), Andrew Maddick (viola) and Kai West (double bass)

The score for POLITICAL MOTHER was created in collaboration with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and barbicanbite09, with research supported by Jerwood Studio at Sadler’s Wells. The use of Solaris by Cliff Martinez is by arrangement with EMI Music Publishing Limited.

Lenght 68’
Production 
Hofesh Shechter Company
Co-production 
Théâtre de la Ville - Paris, HOME - Manchester and Düsseldorf Festival
With production support from
 Fondazione I Teatri Reggio Emilia and DanceEast - Ipswich

Hofesh Shechter Company gratefully receives support towards the delivery of Shechter II 2020, which includes project funding from The Foyle Foundation, The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation and the International Music and Art Foundation, and core funding from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

Hofesh Shechter Company is supported using public funding through Arts Council England and benefits from the support of BNP Paribas Foundation for the development of its projects. 

POLITICAL MOTHER premiered on 20 May 2010, at the Brighton Festival, UK.

The performance contains haze and loud music.