What an incredible rush it was to be part of/in the audience for Hofesh Shechter's well-rounded evening of dance, music and theatre! Hofesh Shechter Company's "Political Mother" (October 11-13 at BAM's Gilman Opera House) replete with drum percussion, rocking guitars, and a gentleman on the microphone were all against the back wall, in separate cubicles that stood atop each other. Not to be forgotten was the equally vibrant soundtrack. The music was driving and wild, and for sure could not be separated from what the dancers on the stage offered. The dancers worth mentioning here: Maeva Berthelot, Chien Ming Chang, Sam Coren, Frederic Despierre, Karima El Amrani, James Finnemore, Bruno Karim Guillore, Yeji Kim, Kim Kohlmann, Philip Hulford, Erion Kruja and Hannah Shepherd were simpy exquisite. These dancers took Shechter's vocabulary, a mix of very low sliding movements across the floor, arms high above their heads, head dropped and shoulders and upper back hunkered over, and made it whole. Throughout the evening, invariably, as the music would take on an edge based on, or not based on a story, these technicians embraced each movement from within; it was visceral. The line across downstage front (in the arms up hunkered position), for instance, when they are all dressed in the uniform crumpled beige/brown suit jackets and pants, and the lone person in black, masked as an animal slowly perused each of them. Do we look to Shechter’s birth place for an answer? To be sure Shechter celebrates folkdance and masters the melding of folkdance and contemporary dance in a big way.
Enjoy this clip with Shechter talking about “Political Mother” below:
Enjoy this clip with Shechter talking about “Political Mother” below:
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