The acclaimed young Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter is bringing his company to the region. He discussed his career and work with our dance critic DAVID BELLAN

In his publicity shots Shechter looks suitably moody and intense, but in the flesh, in the backstage café at Sadlers Wells where we meet, he is charm itself. Since his arrival in the UK in 2002 he has choreographed for projects as diverse as Saint Joan at the National Theatre, The Arsonists at The Royal Court, the opening dance sequence for Channel 4’s Skins, a work for Berlin Ballet, and the hugely successful works he is taking on a 29-venue tour — Uprising and In Your Rooms.

Hofesh is also a concert-trained percussionist, and actually came to this country as a member of a rock band, hence his often pulsating music that drives his work. He’s certainly packed a lot into his 30-odd years, and talked first about his early days in Israel.

“I started as a pianist actually, but we had to do folk dance classes at my school, which was very difficult for me. I thought dancing was for girls and was embarrassed about using my body, but my teacher told me she thought I was very good and should audition for a youth dance company in Jerusalem.

"It was the social life in that company that attracted me, a lot of people working together, travelling together, performing together. I’m not a very social animal actually, and this was like pushing myself out of the dark corner I was sitting in. It was a little tribe where you felt safe and a bit more free."

At 15 he attended the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and at 18 joined the junior section of the Batsheva Dance Company, where the work was very contemporary.

“They would take people like me who they thought had potential and work on them and build them up. And then I moved on to the main company. After that I felt like going back to the world of music, and I thought I’d never be a pianist, so I went in for percussion.

"I wanted to get to the basics of music and I studied in Israel first and then went to Paris to study and also did some dance projects. I was really trying everything. Then I got offered a job as a drummer in a show back in Israel, which gave me a lot of experience and confidence, and then I joined a rock band.”

It was the ambitions of the band’s singer and the political situation in Israel, that brought Hofesh to the UK. “The Twin Towers fell. We were living in Israel and I felt things were getting a bit out of control; politics was bubbling from every street and every corner of your life, you couldn’t really lead a normal life, and I wanted a place where you could really concentrate on art. Also my girlfriend at the time wanted to study osteopathy in London, so I said: ‘Great, let’s go to London then.’”

After a couple of difficult years Schechter made a duet that was seen by John Ashford, the director of The Place, the home of contemporary dance in London, and a few weeks later he was invited to be an associate artist. Since then he hasn’t looked back.

Uprising is the first of the two pieces on tour. Seven men, including Shechter himself, bombard the stage with furious energy to a pounding score by the man himself.

“Uprising is about energy; it’s about the way things flow and the mentality of a group of men . . . the concept is very very simple. It’s basically looking at how this group is structuring and de-structuring itself. About how things may feel random, but then suddenly become very organised.

"It’s also full of moments that bring other feelings, other sensations out. This is the tension of the work, and it’s what I enjoy in the theatre. There isn’t a lot of physical contact between the men, but there is definitely a sensation of brotherhood and of fighting together or achieving something together.

"I like playing on the confusion when there is contact, and the contrast between this brotherhood and the competition, the confrontation between them. Are they the good guys or the bad guys? This confusion is really good for this work.”

The other dance is In Your Rooms, in which six girls join the men.

“This is a very complex work in all aspects. I was trying to push myself as far as I could. It’s very hard to say exactly what In Your Rooms is about, but the main theme is the individual within the group. It’s a very common thing, but often we are not comfortable as individuals in a group and this is about who drives who, what drives what, inside this structure. But it’s not a philosophical piece, it’s more like a scan of a moment, a scan of a social situation, and the feeling it brings out in people.”

Hofesh Shechter’s company is at the Wyvern, Swindon (01793 522481), next Tuesday, the Oxford Playhouse (01865 305305) on Thursday, and at the Wycombe Swan (01491 512000) on October 21.