BURSTING with energy and providing a clear example of how far physicality can go in modern dance, Hofesh Shechter's dance company returned to Edinburgh in triumphant form over the weekend.
Shechter has been billed by many dance commentators as the
Next Big Thing. On this showing, you would probably say that he is the current big thing.
Uprising, which opened the evening, has matured immensely since it premiered at the Traverse 18 months ago. The immediacy of the piece is still there as the seven dancers advance menacingly on their audience from behind low-slung lights at the back of the stage. But the slight wavering in the middle of the piece has gone.
In its place is the feeling that the dancers are at one with the music. Whether in the techno clanking that provides the backbone of the movement or the pattering of drum patterns across the top, the dancers performed in perfect synchronisation.
Each dancer pushed themselves into their movement, twisting themselves to the physical limits of their bodies, while performing their moves with such intensity of expression that they appeared to be infected by the music.
This persisted right through the more melancholy and cinematic In Your Rooms, Shechter's latest piece. While the music added a smoother element, with a mournful cello line at its heart, Shechter's choreography retained his trademark intensity as he moved his dancers between duets, trios and quartets in successions of brief little tableaux and longer passages.
Once again there is no real plot, just an intensity of emotion and celebration of movement. There's a slight lapse of focus in the middle but this is still inspirational stuff.
Run ended