Hofesh Shechter OBE
Artistic Director
Choreographer Hofesh Shechter OBE is recognised as one of the most exciting artists making stage work today, renowned for composing atmospheric musical scores to compliment the unique physicality of his movement.
Hofesh Shechter’s repertoire for the company includes Uprising, In your rooms, The Art of Not Looking Back, Political Mother, Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut, Sun, barbarians , Grand Finale and SHOW with his apprentice company, Shechter II.
Shechter has also staged and choreographed works on leading international dance companies including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Batsheva Ensemble, Candoco Dance Company, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater 1, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet Flanders, as well as for theatre, television and opera. He is an Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells.
In 2018 Hofesh Shechter was awarded an honorary OBE for Services to Dance and the company's first dance film, Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns, was broadcast by the BBC in September to great acclaim.
Henny Finch
Executive Director
After an early career as an artists' agent, in fundraising and as a West End general manager, Henny created renowned touring theatre company Headlong alongside Artistic Director Rupert Goold.
Projects that she lead produced there include 1984 adapted and directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, which has now played to over half a million people worldwide; Enron by Lucy Prebble, directed by Rupert Goold; Chimerica by Lucy Kirkwood, directed by Lyndsey Turner, and People Places and Things by Duncan Macmillan, directed by Jeremy Herrin.
Between 2009 and 2015, she transferred nine projects to the West End or Broadway, winning eleven Olivier Awards.
Henny is a Clore Fellow and a trustee of the Unicorn Theatre.
Colette Hansford
Administrative Director
After working in a variety of Front of House roles leading to Theatre Management of ATG Richmond Theatre, Colette transitioned into dance venue management at The Place supporting artists, choreographers and the theatre team over a period of ten years before moving from her role as Administrative Director to form Hofesh Shechter Company in 2008.
Over the last ten years, Colette has been part of the Executive Team of Hofesh Shechter Company, developing the Company’s business strategy, programme delivery, its artists, team and collaborative projects; celebrating and growing the reputation of Hofesh’s work worldwide.
Melanie Clark
Executive Assistant
Bruno Guillore
Associate Artistic Director
From: Egypt
Training: Conservatoire de Paris, under the direction of Quentin Rouillier.
For Hofesh Shechter Company: Bruno was a founding member of the Company and has been involved in all of Hofesh’s creations, since the early works of Uprising and In Your Rooms to his most recent piece Grand Finale. He has performed in Uprising, In your rooms, Political Mother, Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut, Survivor, Sun, barbarians.
Other Work: Beatriz Consuelo (Ballet Junior de Genève), Richard Wherlock (Luzern Ballet and Komische Oper Berlin), Iracity Cardoso and Paulo Ribeiro (Ballet Gulbenkian, Lisbon). He danced in works by Richard Wherlock, Guilherme Botelho, Ed Wubbe, Örjan Andersson, Rui Horta, Itzik Galili, Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, Stijn Celis, Mauro Bigonzetti, Didy Veldman, Marie Chouinard, Clara Andermatt, Rui Lopes Graça, Regina van Berkel and Paulo Ribeiro. Bruno featured in the film Passengers by Richard Wherlock.
Niamh O'Flaherty
Senior Producer
Niamh joined the company in 2014 following a successful collaboration with Hofesh in her role as Senior Producer for Brighton Festival when he was the Guest Director, a festival which hosted the highest number of new artistic commissions and premieres in its history.
Prior to that, she worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company and managed the World Shakespeare Festival as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad bringing work from international companies to the UK and reaching 1.8 million people. Before moving to the UK in 2011, she worked at the Gate Theatre Dublin specialising in touring theatre productions to festivals worldwide.
Niamh has a Masters in French and studied theatre at the Sorbonne University Paris.
Sam Morley
Head of Development and Communications
Sam’s early career was in television, working for both Granada and Carlton TV where she developed many scheduling initiatives and researched and developed programme formats with the Programmes department. She was also Account Manager for Carlton-owned Planet 24 during their high-profile producing period of Big Breakfast.
In 2008, she joined the Design Museum, fundraising for exhibitions showcasing designers such as Wim Crouwel and Christian Louboutin, and gaining significant multi-year support for its Learning and Enterprise programme. She also secured many six and seven figure grants to complete the museum’s £48 million capital campaign for its new premises.
Sam has an MA in Arts and Cultural Policy and is an Advisory Board member of the Curious School of Puppetry.
Adam Hooper
Head of Production and Touring
Adam has worked in Dance and Live Art for a number of years, with companies including Michael Clark, Russell Maliphant, DV8, Tate Modern, BBC, The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs.
Helga Brandt
Marketing Manager
Helga has been working in the arts and heritage sectors since 1995, initially in Germany and, from 2005, in the UK. After an MSc degree in Prehistoric Archaeology she later obtained a degree in Arts Marketing and Management. She has worked in marketing, communications and public engagement in the performing arts; projects including leading on the heritage programme at the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds and the rebranding of dance development organisation Pavilion Dance South West (PDSW).
Before joining Hofesh Shechter Company as Marketing Manager, Helga has held positions with Kiel University and Cambridge University, Ballet Kiel (a large-scale resident contemporary ballet company), the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds and dance houses tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf) and PDSW in Bournemouth, where she was Head of the Marketing and Development Department from 2013 until December 2017.
Claire Lee
Development Associate
Clare Lovett
Learning Associate
Clare’s career has spanned both music and dance, focusing on the development of young people, artists and work with communities. In 2015, she established First Penguin, an arts engagement consultancy, working with clients from libraries to visual art studios and music development organisations.
Prior to managing her consultancy, Clare worked at Spitalfields Music in Tower Hamlets as the Programme Director for Learning & Participation. During her time there, she helped launch Musical Rumpus, an opera series for the under 3s, which has toured nationally and internationally to over 3,000 under 5s and their families, as well as producing award winning large-scale community commissions Crowd Out:London and We are Shadows.
Clare was awarded an MA in Community Organising from QMUL. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Associate Governor of The Cherry Trees school in Tower Hamlets.
Lucy Moelwyn-Hughes
Producer - Artist Development
Lucy trained at Bodywork Company Dance Studios in Cambridge and then at London Contemporary Dance School. She spent the next eight years touring, performing and teaching (Tardis, V-TOL, CandoCo). In 2000, Lucy became Education Officer at The Place where she taught projects in schools across London and managed The Place’s youth companies and boys’ projects.
From 2004 onwards, Lucy worked freelance for a range of organisations (CandoCo, Dance Touring Partnership and London Borough of Camden). During this time she also retrained to become a Pilates Matwork teacher, and still leads classes in North London.
Lucy joined the team at Hofesh Shechter Company in 2013.
Emily Gatehouse
Assistant Producer
After graduating from the University of Manchester with a BA Hons in Drama, Emily travelled to Tea Leaf Vision School in Sri Lanka, as a facilitator for Tie-Dye Drama using drama and theatre techniques to teach English and explore social issues.
On returning from Asia, Emily continued her Applied Theatre work, until she joined Hofesh Shechter Company on a fixed-term contract as Projects Administrator, hired specifically to assist on the project East Wall Warm Up and was later hired as the company’s full-time Administrator.
She became the Assistant Producer in 2017.
Anna Jones
Administrator
Anna graduated from the University of York with a BA Hons in Theatre: Writing, Directing and Performance in 2017. After this she returned home and sought opportunities to gain administrative experience, alongside volunteering at a local theatre. At the beginning of 2018 Anna completed a two month internship at London Calling, an arts marketing agency, and she has now officially made the move to London to join Hofesh Shechter Company.
Hannah Finnimore
Intern
Hannah has completed two years of her BA Dance degree at the University of Surrey. During her studies, she undertook part-time work in the University of Surrey Admissions department, alongside volunteering to teach contemporary dance, and choreographing and performing with a student-led dance company.
After attending a performance and workshop with Hofesh Shechter Company in 2017, Hannah successfully applied to complete her professional training placement with the administrative arm of the organisation. She also performed as part of this summer’s East Wall project at the Tower of London, and has now officially started her placement with the company.
Board
Board of Directors: Gerard Lemos (Chair), Theresa Beattie, Sarah Coop, Jason Gonsalves, Jonny Kanagasoorium, Martine Simmonds
Shadow Trustees: Victor Fung, Rob Jones, Beth O’Leary