The prospect of a world premiere at the Royal Opera House always has the capital's dance fans licking their lips in anticipation. When the work being created for the Royal Ballet is by award-winning Israeli-born choreographer, Hofesh Shechter, there is even more excitement - and curiosity.
What one of the leading lights of contemporary dance will do with one of the world's foremost classical ballet companies is keeping everyone guessing. For an audience more accustomed to a diet of swans, sylphs and demented village virgins, Shechter's piece - part of a triple bill alongside works by George Balanchine and Kenneth MacMillan - will provide an exciting addition to the company's repertoire.
"This is my first collaboration with an entirely classical ballet company," says Shechter. "I first saw them dance four or five years ago - I have seen them in the very classical repertoire to more contemporary pieces and I was very curious about their superb bodies. Kevin O'Hare [the director of the Royal Ballet] floated the idea of creating something around that and it excited me. I love the idea of working with a lot of bodies on stage - it makes it interesting for me."
One of the major challenges for Shechter will be translating the raw energy of his style into something the classical dancers, more used to the lush romanticism of Frederick Ashton and the sinuous eroticism of Kenneth MacMillan, can interpret. He says their current repertoire is "worlds apart from what I'm doing". So, in rehearsals, out goes the French academic vocabulary the dancers have been brought up with and in comes a language which is "more simple", he says.
"I will be using energy and ideas to do with action. There is a challenge to connect in the middle - my style requires certain qualities the dancers won't necessarily have. Their bodies are different to my dancers, the challenge is for me to understand them, to adapt what I'm doing. I have to find a way to bring the best out of them."
When he speaks of "my dancers", he is referring to those in the Hofesh Shechter Company, which was formed in 2008 - six years after Shechter left Israel - and has performed his works around the world to great acclaim.
Shechter was born in Jerusalem and studied at the Jerusalem Academy for Dance and Music. Initial lessons in classical ballet reaffirmed his belief that his body was not entirely suited to the more stringent requirements of classical dance. "I was naturally attracted to contemporary dance," he says. Not surprisingly, modern dance has more of a stronghold in Israel. "Israel is a very young country," he explains. "Classical ballet is way older. Everything in Israel is about current affairs and contemporary life, so classical ballet wouldn't really 'catch' there."
He graduated into the Batsheva Dance Company and studied drum and percussion in Tel Aviv but left to travel and find some sense of inner peace away from the politics which he says is "all over life in Israel. Weirdly, London became that quiet place. There is a different culture in London and I found perspective on my life."
With his own established company, in addition to various commissions from other troupes (last summer, he was guest director at the Brighton Festival), he still makes time to compose music for many of his works. His piece at the Royal Opera House will be accompanied by music he has written with Neil Catchpole. "I have to both choreograph and compose, otherwise I feel a sense of being incomplete."
Described as visceral and compelling, his signature style is ensemble work, and he is enjoying rehearsing with the young members of the Royal Ballet as they try to capture what he calls "the basic essence of my style. We still have work to do, but I'm optimistic. The piece is an exploration of tribal energy through 'an ocean' of dancers. My starting point is the joy of working with so many bodies on stage and looking at how they behave. I come from Israel where there is an obsession with tribe and who is belonging."
The issue of belonging has become more apparent to Shechter as rehearsals have gone on. "I was curious about a Jewish choreographer being asked to make work for the Royal Opera House - a place based on Christian culture and I am not from that 'tribe'. I am a guest in many ways in that building, and I bring in a sense of different culture on the stage."
His work is certainly not what the predominantly WASP audiences are used to. "I have a feeling that my work is going to be very different. It will make for a very interesting evening," he laughs. One thing is guaranteed… there won't be a swan feather in sight.
