Hofesh Schecter's company performing Political Mother: 'The rhythmic patterns of movement suggest prison systems"
Political MotherSadler’s Wells, 3rd-7th July
The first full-length work from choreographer Hofesh Schecter premiered at the Brighton Festival in 2010. Such was its impact, Schecter, an inveterate tinkerer, produced a longer version for a now legendary performance at Sadler’s Wells. To claim that Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut changed the face of modern dance is no overstatement.
Above the stage, a ranting dictator delivers hoarse, indecipherable speeches, in between shards of percussion and electric guitar, to a succession of shuffling, loping figures below. The rhythmic patterns of movement suggest prison systems from the chain gangs of Angola to the horrors of Treblinka and Auschwitz, with the inmates staggering and trembling their way through existence. They dig, they crawl, they lope around in circles, they shake their fists at the sky.
By colliding the relentless aural assault of a rock gig with the twisted human architecture of dance, Schecter created an entirely new form. Where bold dancemakers such as Michael Clark and DV8 had skirmished with similar ideas, Schecter ramraided cultural barriers wielding a formidable arsenal of anger, humanity and an unyielding contempt for despotic political systems of every hue. Be brave and go.
