Silhouetted in front of a massive chandelier that hovers above the stage, the bodies of dancers create elaborate shapes in one of the many dramatic scenes from the contemporary ballet “Red Carpet.”
Created by Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter, the dance will have its North American premiere at UC Berkeley’s Cal Performances Oct. 2-4.
The piece combines the beautiful precision of Paris Opera Ballet dancers and the high-fashion design concepts of Chanel, all shaped by Shechter’s uniquely emotive style.
“This company — one of the great ballet companies of the world — is making a special trip to Cal Performances, which represents their first engagement in the Bay Area in at least two decades and only one of two stops on their U.S. tour of Hofesh Shechter’s ‘Red Carpet,’” Jeremy Geffen, executive and artistic director of Cal Performances, told J. in an email.
Shechter is a highly respected choreographer who got his start with Batsheva Dance Company, Israel’s premiere modern dance ensemble.
Currently based in London, the 50-year-old Shechter has his own company and is a rising star in the modern dance world. “Red Carpet,” though, was choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet, and marks the fourth time Shechter has collaborated with the organization.
As the dance corps of the Paris Opera theater company, the ballet is “the perfect match for this innovative creator,” Geffen said, adding that it is “renowned for both their tradition and their range.” Founded in 1669, Paris Opera Ballet is the oldest national ballet company in the world and one of the most prestigious — and traditional. Yet “Red Carpet” is far from a “Swan Lake” or a “Giselle,” and that’s due to Shechter’s modern approach.
“Red Carpet” illustrates the friction between glamour and art and the tension between the “outer and the inner,” and the title is intended to “trigger the imagination,” Shechter said in an interview posted by the Paris Opera on its site.
Chanel, the venerable French fashion house that has an existing relationship with the Paris Opera, provided the costumes, which Shechter called “elegant” but also “wild” and “exciting.” The show features live music on stage created in the studio with the dancers and Shechter’s repeat collaborator, Israeli musician Yaron Engler. The result is a mishmash that includes Israeli-inflected dance music and drumming, with the musicians bringing what Shechter called a “rock and roll” feeling.
“It is a music concert as well as a dance piece,” he said.
“Red Carpet” premiered in Paris this summer. Beyond that, it is being performed only in Berkeley and New York, giving ballet fans in Northern California a rare opportunity to see the work.
In an interview last year with the Guardian about his show “Theatre of Dreams,” Shechter said he wants audiences to experience dance and not think about it analytically.
“Dance and music are tools [to get to] something that matters much more, which is the human experience,” he said. “In the end we’re having a visceral experience for an hour and a half and feeling like we went through something.”
He also obliquely addressed the situation in Israel and Gaza in the interview, saying, “I really try not to speak about politics, but I will say the problem is the leaders.”
In February of this year, when Batsheva Dance Company performed at UC Berkeley, the event was disrupted by protesters. Dozens flanked police barricades set up outside Zellerbach Hall, while one protester held a sign calling the company “ambassadors of Israeli genocide.”
A representative of Cal Performances told J. the organization is not aware of protests related to any upcoming programming.