Photography by Matthew Ager and Paul Hughes
What excites me about our work is the richness that comes from such different bodies on stage and the different ways we all approach the way we learn.Vicki Balaam — StopGAP Artistic Director
Next Performance:
One of the most important reasons for StopGAP's success in recent years has been the phenomenal talent, energy, hard work and raw creativity of our collaborating choreographers.
Finding the right mix of dance styles is vital when putting together a touring repertoire, and nowhere was that more important than in the construction of Portfolio Collection — we sought to find the perfect mix of choreographers and choreographic styles that would be both diverse and complementary; that would take the dancers to their next level.
Hofesh graduated from the Jerusalem Academy for Dance and Music before joining the Batsheva Dance Company. In order to develop his significant interest in music and rhythm, Hofesh also began drum and percussion studies in Tel-Aviv, continued later in Paris at Agostiny College of Rhythm where he began experimenting and developing his own music which included body-percussion.
He participated in various dance and theatre projects in Europe before moving to the UK in 2002 to join the Jasmin Vardimon Dance Company.
His choreographic debut Fragments (for which he also created the score) toured the UK, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Korea, New York and Poland, where the piece won 1st place in the 3rd Serge Diaghilev Choreography Competition.
In 2004 Hofesh was commissioned by The Place Prize for which he created Cult. The work was selected as one of five finalists, ultimately winning the 'Audience Choice' award.
Hofesh went on to create new pieces for Bare Bones Company and Edge — the postgraduate company of London Contemporary Dance School. Other commissions included Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Ballet CeDeCe in Portugal.
In 2006 Hofesh worked as choreographer for Motortown by Simon Stephens which premiered at The Royal Court Theatre in May.
In June 2006 he premiered Uprising, a commission by the Robin Howard Foundation at London's The Place, and throughout Autumn and into Spring 2007, toured the UK and Europe with deGENERATION – a triple-bill featuring both Cult and Uprising.
Prior to working with StopGAP, his latest commission was a collaboration between The Place, the Southbank Centre and Sadler's Wells called In Your Rooms which features 11 dancers and live music, and was performed at all three venues in 2007.
Originally from the former coal-mining city of Barnsley, Gary trained at the Electric Theatre Studios and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance
At the age of 18, he was the first young performer to receive the Brian Glover Memorial Award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Performing Arts and Dance'.
Gary spent the next 6 years as a member of Lea Anderson's The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs and also danced with Adventures in Motion Pictures, Retina Dance Company, Javier de Frutos, Bock and Vincenzi, Phoenix Dance Company, Maresa Von Stockert's Tilted Productions, Nigel Charnock and The Felix Ruckert Company. He has created works for Ascendance REP, Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Corridor Arts.
In August 2004 Gary became Artistic Director of Pit Fleur Company and also received the 'Artist Development Award' from Danceworks UK.
Thomas trained at the Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris Marcel Marceau and has been involved in ongoing dance research for 25 years, teaching for over 20 years in countries all over Europe, USA and South America.
As an actor, Thomas has performed in such productions as The Orchestra and Piaf in London and La Cantatrice Chauve in Paris, but he eventually returned to Switzerland in 1995 to actively work with the emerging independent theatre/dance scene.
In 1996 he co-founded on.off Werkstatt — a centre for research, studies, exchange and creation with international guest teachers in Bern — and the next 10 years saw intense research and collaborative development which led to a series of work including 7 full-evening pieces, in addition to numerous solo projects.
In 2004 he initiated 5 Men Dancing: a night of improv – a collective of Europe's finest dance improvisers which was performed at The Place in London and at Dampfzentrale in Bern as part of the Friends From Out of Town Festival co-created by on.off Werkstatt.
In 2005 Thomas created and directed About Life and Death — a six week physical theatre performance project involving dancers/actors from 7 nations.
Thomas premiered another improvised dance piece at Festival Heimspiel in February 2007 entitled Jezt und Genau So (Now and Exactly Like This) performed by 7 dancers with striking physical differences.
Thomas recently worked on a duet with the blind dancer Sylvie Raphoz which premiered in 2008 at the Festival DanseHabile in Geneva.
Nathalie is a French choreographer who dances in her own work. She first trained in classical and modern dance with Yolande Marlzoff, a former dancer with the Strasbourg Opera, before attending Institute dirige par Françoise et Dominque Dupuy.
As a dancer, Nathalie worked from 1985 to 1987 with choreographer Marie-France Delieuvin. She also performed in works by José Montalvo from 1986 to 1989.
In 1989 she teamed up with Andréas Schmid to form Compagnie Schmid-Pernette, which showcased their choreographic skills and created 8 works over 12 years, including: Les Ombres Portées in 1989; Le Frisson d'Alice in 1992; Le Mur Palimpseste in 1993; Verba Volant in 1994; Le Savon in 1996; Le Sacre du Printemps and Reliefs in 1999; and Suites in 2001.
The company regularly toured France and also performed in Japan, Canada, Belarus and the UK.
Nathalie then set up Companie Pernette in 2001 to showcase her own work. It has so far created 14 dance pieces: Délicieuses, Je ne sais pas and A l'ombre d'un doute in 2002; Le Nid in 2003; Jardin et délices and Je ne sais pas, un Jour… in 2004; La Flúte Enchantée' and Les Naufragées in 2005; Le Cabarnet Martien in 2006; La Repas in 2007; Les Maison and Les Miniatures in 2009; and De Produndis and La Peur du Loup in 2011.
Nathalie is an Associate Artist of the Centre Nationale de la Danse in Pantin, Paris.
