Choreographer Hofesh Shechter Makes His Royal Ballet Debut

There’s a lot of really cool stuff happening at The Royal Ballet right now. In fact, I’m starting to think that this paragon of classicism actually has its finger on the pulse of everything that is new and exciting in the ballet world.

Case in point: Hofesh Shechter is making his choreographic debut at The Royal tonight! The Israeli-born, London-based choreographer formed his dance roots with Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva Dance Company in Israel, but he eventually moved to London and started making his own work. Now, it seems all the cool contemporary companies want a piece of the action—Shechter’s rep is performed by Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and the L.A.-based BODYTRAFFIC, to name a couple.

Members of The Royal Ballet—including Matthew Ball, Solomon Golding and Calvin Richardson—rehearsing Hofesh Shecter’s Untouchable (photo by Hugo Glendinning)

It’s definitely a leap to imagine Shechter’s rough, aggressive and athletic style on the dancers of The Royal Ballet, but that’s what makes it so exciting. How will they manage? Will they manage at all? Apparently all five shows are sold out, so it seems that British audiences want to know the answer, too. And to his credit, Shechter is very calm and humble about his major collaboration with one of the world’s top companies. He told journalist Mark Monahan, “Some of the audience will think, ‘Oh, that’s really beautiful’, like when you go to, say, India, and you experience something entirely new. And others will think, ‘What is he doing on my stage?’”

We feel confident the reaction will be the former, but take a look at Shechter in rehearsal with some of The Royal’s world-class dancers and let us know what you think in the comments below!