Hofesh Shechter’s ‘Grand Finale’ Opens Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Season

Seven years after In Your Rooms appeared on Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s program, star choreographer Hofesh Shechter returns to OBV with Grand Finale. When this masterpiece had its world premiere in 2017, the press praised it as “choreographic fireworks.” Exclusively for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, he reinterprets this intense, exuberant choreography for a larger group of dancers.

“Keep your friends close and your demons closer,” could be a guiding principle for Shechter’s oeuvre. His personal fears often serve as a source of inspiration in his work. This is also true for Grand Finale, the opening production of the new dance season at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. In times of climate disasters and geopolitical and economic crises, Grand Finale seems like a dystopian work. But it also radiates an irrepressible vitality, strength, and optimism. However great the storm may be: humanity keeps standing, falls in love, keeps dancing. Humor and dread alternate on stage, just like in real life.

Originally, Shechter created this work for ten dancers and it lasted about one and a half hours. During the Covid period, he shortened the performance to one hour, but this version was never shown to a large live audience. He now reinterprets that version for fifteen dancers of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.

For this production, Shechter once again composed the music himself, weaving it together with compositions by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Franz Lehár. The music is performed live on stage by the HERMESensemble. The musicians embody optimism. Just like the orchestra on the Titanic, they keep the flame of hope burning.

Part concert, part dance, part theatre, and highly original – there is no better way to describe Grand Finale. It is at once comic, somber, and beautiful. It conjures up a world in conflict with itself, full of anarchic energy and violent humor. At the time, the production gathered awards and nominations one after another. tanz magazine named it “choreography of the year,” and it was also nominated for an Olivier Award. Now, it is danced by one of the most adventurous companies of our time.

Grand Finale runs 24 September to 1 October at Opera Antwerp and 11 October to October 19 at Opera Ghent. Tickets are on sale now from €24. Click here for bookings.

Image from another production of ‘Grand Finale’. Copyright, Maciek Rukasz