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.
Colette Hansford
Executive Producer
As Executive Producer and co-founder of Hofesh Shechter Company, Colette has led on the business and strategic development of the company for the last 10 years, growing the brand worldwide and producing and delivering UK and international touring work, alongside numerous large-scale creative projects. These include Olivier Award nominated production Grand Finale, Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut at Brixton Academy, Orphée et Eurydice at the Royal Opera House and Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns, commissioned by the BBC for Performance Live. Prior to this, Colette worked in programming, artist development and venue management, initially with ATG Theatres before moving into dance, as Administrative Director – Theatre and Artistic development at The Place.
Colette is a Trustee of Stopgap Dance Company.
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.
Becky Ruffell
Head of Operations
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.
Claire Lee
Head of Development
Claire is an experienced Development Director and freelance Development Consultant with a career spanning the charitable sector. Having initially trained at the NSPCC during the £250m FULLSTOP Campaign in major philanthropic giving, she has since applied her skills within the arts through strategic planning and front-line fundraising delivery, formerly as Development Director for Lift and Fevered Sleep. She has freelanced as a Development Consultant since 2007. Clients include; Fevered Sleep, Hackney Empire, Upswing, Russell Maliphant Company and KIT Theatre for whom Claire has secured strategic grants to support new programme areas or new business plans.
Claire studied Modern Languages at the University of Bristol and Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts and Central St Martins (now University of the Arts London).
Claire joined Hofesh Shechter Company in 2018 as Development Associate and is now Head of Development.
David Steele
Learning Associate
Melanie Clark
Executive Assistant (Maternity Leave)
Claire Porterfield
Executive Assistant (Maternity Cover)
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.
Michelle Roebuck
Finance Manager
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
Company 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 and then Company Producer in 2019.
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.
