In The Brain at HOME

Pulsing, visual and physically explosive – that’s Hofesh Shechter. If you’ve ever witnessed the choreographer’s work before, you’ll know his productions aren’t just presented on stage – they hit somewhere more visceral. This spring, HOME welcomes In The Brain – a new full-length work performed by Shechter II, the choreographer’s internationally renowned early-career company.

Part rave, part ritual, In The Brain builds on Cave, a shorter work exploring nightlife, collective movement and the strange transcendence of shared experience. Here, those ideas are expanded into something larger; a high-voltage collision of dance, rhythm and raw physical intensity that transforms the theatre into a pulsing communal space.

Performed by the ferociously talented dancers of Shechter II, the production leans fully into the choreographer’s signature style – grounded movement, explosive energy and hypnotic repetition. There’s always something primal about Shechter’s work too, a sense that dance is less about slick technique and more about instinct, survival and release.

That tension feels particularly resonant in In The Brain, which taps into the emotional architecture of nightlife. The rave becomes more than a setting; it’s a temporary collective state, a place where identity blurs and individual bodies dissolve into rhythm and crowd. In Shechter’s hands, that atmosphere carries both euphoria and unease – joy edged with exhaustion, freedom shadowed by something darker and more uncertain.

What has always made Shechter’s work so compelling is its ability to make contemporary dance feel immediate and visceral. You don’t need specialist knowledge to connect with it and you feel it in your chest long before you intellectualise it. The bass reverberates, the dancers surge forward, and suddenly the space between audience and performer feels unusually thin.

With In The Brain, Shechter II once again proves why the company has become one of the most exciting forces in contemporary dance. It’s ierce, fearless and driven by the pulse of the present moment.