Sydney Opera House has regretfully announced that Spring Dance, Sydney’s popular contemporary dance festival, will no longer be held.

Sydney Opera House created Spring Dance in 2009 as part of the centres annual dance program.  For the first three years, it was curated from within the Opera House’s programming team. In 2012, the Artistic Director of Sydney Dance Company, Rafael Bonachela, led the program.

The 2012 festival was an outstanding success.  Rafael’s inspiring leadership and varied, exciting program were whole-heartedly embraced, giving Spring Dance its most successful year ever. A special delight was the close Sydney Opera House/Sydney Dance Company collaboration that resulted in last year’s world premiere of Contemporary Women.

‘Agwa and Correria’ by Mourad Merzouki, presented at Spring Dance 2012. Photo by Jess Bialek, courtesy of Sydney Opera House

Unfortunately, even after such a successful year, Sydney Opera House has cancelled the Spring Dance program. As part of the Opera House’s current budget planning they have reviewed their projects and deemed Spring Dance as too expensive. Spring Dance was the most high-profile manifestation of the Opera House’s commitment to contemporary dance.

“While we have been happy to make this investment to support an art form that boasts a relatively small but passionate audience, we can no longer continue to commit the funds required to present it on its original scale.  Rather than present a diminished festival, we have decided to end Spring Dance on the wildly successful note Rafael Bonachela achieved in 2012,” explains Louise Herron, CEO, Sydney Opera House.

“It goes without saying that this decision has been made for purely financial reasons. In no sense is it a reflection on the truly outstanding work of Rafael and our close friends at Sydney Dance Company.”

While the dance industry morns over the cancellation of one of the country’s most adored dance festivals,  Sydney Dance Company and the Opera House plan to collaborate again in August of this year to present the Company in a new work.

“These collaborations are just one of the many ways we intend to continue to work together in the future.  And we will continue to present international dance such as Sylvie Guillem and Nederlands Dans Theater,” says Herron.

Photo (top): Promotional image for Spring Dance 2012, courtesy of Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House
August 29 2012

By Kristy Johnson.

Spring Dance Curator, Rafael Bonachela, commissioned works by Emily Amisano, Stephanie Lake, Larissa McGowan and Lisa Wilson for this year’s festival. Chosen “because of their unique talent and different approach to dance-making”, Contemporary Women ticked all the right boxes when it came to creating four innovative pieces of choreography for Sydney Dance Company.

First and foremost, it was exciting to see four of Australia’s most talented female choreographers create a repertoire of works, performed by the best of Australia’s contemporary dancers. Usually we aren’t privileged to see a complete program solely of female choreography.

Kicking off the night was Desire by Queensland’s Lisa Wilson. Focusing on the internal forces that drive us or make us hesitate or waver in action, inspiration came from the interior landscape of body and mind. A brilliant cast including Emily Amisano, Lachlan Bell, Thomas Bradley, Juliette Barton, Richard Cilli, Janessa Dufty and Bernhard Knauer, brought together the landscape of body and mind with connectedness and fluidity of movement.

Photos by Jess Bialek

Fanatic by Adelaide’s Larissa McGowan provided great comic relief and was by far my favourite piece of the night. Using humour and physical expression, the dancers investigated what happens when Alien and Predator movie fans express their emotions through youTube. Laughter was often heard from the audience throughout the entire piece.

Dancer Emily Amisano, who performed in Desire, returned as choreographer for the third instalment of the night, Yield. Sydney based Emily, examined how we come to understand others through their behaviours, reactions and limitations, by considering the balance within a relationship. A playful nature was depicted through the use of props including stools and mats, as well as the expressions shown on the dancers’ faces.

The final piece of the night, Dream Lucid, was choreographed by Melbournian Stephanie Lake. Stephanie asked the audience to consider a modern dilemma.  Are we able to be an individual in a society so highly controlled or is our freedom simply an illusion? This was evident to see through the dynamic choreography, and inability of the dancers to escape contact by other artists.

The clever use of lighting for the program should receive a mention. Benjamin Cisterne created depth to the performances through flickering lights, which caused the choreography to appear more dynamic and intense at times.

By the amount of applause given at the conclusion of the night, it was evident I wasn’t the only one who thoroughly enjoyed each performance. Each piece was innovative in its own right, had one captivated by the sheer level of talent of the dancers, and entertaining. Once again, Sydney Dance Company did not disappoint.

Sydney Opera House has unveiled a vibrant and eclectic program for Spring Dance 2012 – Australia’s only international festival of contemporary dance – curated by Rafael Bonachela.

Brimming with energy, and with an international flavour, the two week festival will be a celebration of movement, infused with Rafael’s spirit and his passion for dance. The festival, which will take over Sydney Opera House’s Western Foyers, includes an evening of four world premieres, three Australian premieres and offers up an assortment of dance and music styles to Spring Dance audiences.

Running from 20 August – 2 September, this year’s festival will get off to a sizzlingly sensual start when Sydney Opera House welcomes back Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. He will perform on stage for the first Australian presentation of Dunas, created and choreographed with renowned flamenco dancer María Pagés who will perform in Australia for the first time.

TAO Dance Theatre. Photo by Matthew George Johnson

The French choreographer Mourad Merzouki and his troupe of 11 dancers from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro will take Sydney by storm with their energetic fusion of hip hop, capoeira and samba with their double bill Agwa and Correria. By contrast, Beijing’s TAO Dance Theatre will also make their Australian debut, presenting the elegantly pared-back dances Weight x 3 and 2, set against the music of legendary minimalist composer Steve Reich.

Sydney Opera House and Sydney Dance Company will shine a light on female choreography with the world premiere of Contemporary Women – a series of four innovative works created by female Australian choreographers and performed by Sydney Dance Company’s dancers. The pieces, currently in development, will be further illustrated by a specially commissioned film and photography exhibition in the Western Foyers by Peter Greig.

Also celebrating home-grown talent will be Clouds Above Berlin choreographed and performed by Antony Hamilton and Melanie Lane; and iOU dance solo series which will showcase the best of Sydney’s independent dance scene.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and María Pagés’ Dunas. Photo by David Ruano

Spring Dance curator Rafael Bonachela said, “From the intellectual and innovative to the joyous and lyrical, there will be so much on offer at this year’s Spring Dance. For dance aficionados there will be some beautiful yet rigorous work presented by some truly inspirational artists. And for those people walking the streets of Sydney who don’t yet know that they love contemporary dance – we’re going to find them and welcome them to our community of dance lovers!”

Executive Producer Jonathan Bielski added, “We invited Rafael to lead Spring Dance not just because he is an artist of international acclaim, which he is, or because he is the most charming man in Sydney, which he most certainly is, but because he is a gifted programmer of other artists’ work and this talent is rare.”

Spring Dance will be accompanied by a series of on-site events including post show Q&As and artist-led masterclasses. The Australian Ballet’s Artistic Director David McAllister will lead a free outdoor ballet class and there will be a free jazz class taught by Rafael Bonachela and Ramon Doringo.

For the first time, the festival will be documented by a photographer in residence, Justin Ridler – keep an eye on the Spring Dance blog to stay up to date with his behind the scenes images.

There will be a one-off free film screening of Rudolf Nureyev and Robert Helpmann’s 1973 performance of Don Quixote for The Australian Ballet, introduced by David McAllister, offering a rare opportunity to revisit the first official public performance in the Sydney Opera House Opera Theatre.

The documentary film Never Stand Still, made at the Jacob’s Pillow festival in Massachusetts, will be screened at the Drama Theatre, offering an insightful glimpse into the world of dancers and choreographers. Tickets are $15.

Tickets for Spring Dance performances are only $35 and can be purchased via sydneyoperahouse.com or by phone on 02 9250 7777.

Top image: Mourad Merzouki’s Agwa and Correria