★★★★★
Hofesh Shechter is one of the most in-demand choreographers in the world. In a knockout return to the Adelaide Festival, Hofesh Shechter Company brings us Theatre of Dreams for an unmissable limited season.
Direct from the United Kingdom, the ensemble has been a boundary-breaking force in contemporary dance since 2008, creating powerful works under Shechter’s artistic direction.
With an extraordinary, internationally diverse ensemble, Shechter’s works have toured worldwide, moving themselves and audiences beyond reason. The Company last toured to Adelaide in 2019 with their work Grand Finale, and now makes a long-awaited, triumphant return in 2026.
Theatre of Dreams follows twelve dancers moving through portals of evolving emotions, darkness and dreams. However, this synopsis cannot do justice to what we all witnessed last night. I have to call it: this is the best contemporary dance work I have ever seen.
A dancer is initially with us in the audience before the show starts. We don’t really notice him, but we should have. We are sitting, waiting for the house lights to dim to signal the start. But it doesn’t come.
This dancer then appears on the stage. Curiously assessing the threshold of the curtain, should he enter? He peers behind, and then we are all lurched down this portal with him.
Ah! This is what we were waiting for! The show had already started! It is instantly clear that we are on this journey too; there will be no separation between them and us.
You can forget a slow build. Theatre of Dreams launches you into a cosmic whirlwind of illusion and movement instantly. The dancers Do. Not. Stop. The curtain is suddenly a character in this work – the window between us and the action. I have not seen anything like it.
They slide or lift the upstage and downstage curtains across the stage – closing us off, letting us in. Shechter’s score pulses throughout the theatre, and Tom Visser’s lighting design plunges us in and out of darkness. The combination of all these elements creates an outstanding visual display that hijacks all our senses.
These dancers are artistic athletes. They run, slide, groove, ebb and flow throughout this section and beyond. Their transitions between each other and moments of unison are all timed to perfection. This is an example of an ensemble at the peak of its power.
Shechter’s choreographic style is one that uses the rhythms to drive the visceral physicality of the movements. It is incredibly unique and totally groovy.
The dancers are completely at the mercy of the music and make it look habitual. These twelve incredible artists are: Alex Haskins, Robinson Cassarino, Tristan Carter, Frederic Despierre-Corporon, Cristel De Frankrijker, Rachel Fallon, Mickael Frappat, Justine Gouache, Zakarius Harry, Keanah Simin, Juliette Valerio and Chanel Vivent.
Also in this cathartic portal of dreams is a three-piece jazz band who appear throughout to further transcend the audience into a state of hypnosis. Norman Jankowski, Bartłomiej Janiak and James Keane are dressed in red, emerging each time to switch up the tone of the work.
They blend genres musically; you can hear influences of Arabic, African and American Jazz rhythms. Again, complementing all this is Visser’s lighting, which switches the hues to match.
On Visser’s lighting and Shechter’s direction, I must also mention the genius use of the house lights that are brought up a couple times throughout the show. In one moment, we are invited to join dancers in a boogie. Looking around, the scene looks like some euphoric cult, a theatre full of humans completely surrendering to the beats and movement, at the mercy of this place.
The show ends by bringing us full circle. We are all let out gently from this fever-dream. The lights come up, and the dancers are on stage, also waking up in awe. We all feel the same. The collective feeling is, did we just imagine the past 90 minutes? Let me jump in again!
Theatre of Dreams does more than push the boundaries of contemporary dance; it is already far beyond the boundary in a league of its own. Hofesh Shechter Company makes contemporary dance feel immediate, visceral and alive.
Theatre of Dreams is an electrifying triumph from start to finish. I urge you to cancel all your weekend plans and jump down the rabbit hole before they are gone again.
Theatre of Dreams is presented by Hofesh Shechter Company and runs to 15 March at the Festival Theatre as part of Adelaide Festival.
Tickets: https://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=OFDREAMS26
Website: https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/whats-on/season-2026/theatre-of-dreams
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/hofeshco/ and https://www.instagram.com/adelaidefestival/
Photo credits: Andrew Beveridge
