Shechter II: Brainstorming – a fun release for rave and culture | Dancing

Met may be 38 years since the second summer of love, three decades since dance music took off in the early 90s, but on the modern dance scene, rave is still at its peak. In recent years, you have not been able to move because of the dancers who keep on hitting again and again, at the meetings of the tribes and the winners.

Hofesh Shechter’s dance moves have always been a dancefloor attraction – he writes his own beat-driven songs, after all – but where early works were annoying, he now seems happy to get lost in the music. Shechter’s latest, In the Brain, is made from a piece Cave created Martha Graham Dance Company in 2022. Dances with his small company, Shechter II, a group of the best young dancers under 25, selected from around the world. They are hungry for that young power, and they lay it all down.

In the Brain isn’t quite a party, though. It has its quiet moments, its slow structure, its not-always-illuminated techniques (short dances, and slow couple dances, to name two). The feeling is underground, not least because of Tom Visser’s lighting. Visser is the king of dark light in all its vivid forms – atmospheric with minimal drama – and Shechter’s effects are equally dark and moody, rather than partying. (There are also additional tracks from German techno duo Âme.)