Grand Finale – the latest work from Israeli-born, London-based choreographer Hofesh Shechter – makes for heavy viewing. Premised as an apocalyptic response to disaster and disintegration, the work delivers nothing less than a visceral ode to the end of time. But amidst the unrelenting bleakness and preoccupation with death, a darkly beautiful study of human resilience emerges through mesmerising repetition and allegory.

Grand Finale at Adelaide Festival. Photo © Rahi Rezvani

In his program note, Shechter suggests the work’s opening scene may be viewed as a “flashback to a preceding disaster”. The cast of ten exquisite dancers drift in and out of the hazy blackness, slipping between explosive and slow-motion movement. Their bodies are soft, carried only by the long melancholic notes of the string quintet that joins them on stage. Bodies crumple silently and suddenly to the floor, quickly dragged off into the ill-defined edges of the space.

Though the provenance of the disaster is unknown, the atmosphere of chaos and fear is immediately recognisable. It’s an uneasy feeling that pervades the work from start to finish. By tapping into a universal feeling of disorder, Shechter is concerned with the collective...