By Dolce Fisher.

Sydney Theatre
March 2012

2 One Another is the next contemporary dance installment from acclaimed choreographer Rafael Bonachela, but this time he collaborated with a team of varied artists. Samuel Webster was involved from the beginning, using poetry that was inspired by the dancers’ movement which later became text layered throughout the musical score.  The music was a compilation of artists with original music composed by Nick Wales. There was an eclectic selection with everything from beautiful strings to brash electro.

The costume and production design created by Tony Assness was full of contrast, but easy on the eye. Benjamin Cisterne’s lighting used a number of effects from a dimly lit stage to hits of stark white light. He only mixed in colour in the last section of the choreography.  A cyc replaced with a wall of LED lights covered with a thin layer of fabric softened the overall look.

Bonachela’s choreography held true to his style, despite him having a different creative team for this work. His use of raw movement developed from improvisation is something that many contemporary choreographers only dream of having enough time and funding to be able to delight in! Bonachela’s use of all the elements blended so well, allowing so much light and shade in the choreography.

Opening in silence with almost tai chi like movement, 2 One Another had a peaceful vibe to it. This was then cut by a surge of dynamic movement and light. The whole work ebbed and flowed with a series of solos, duos, trios and group work throughout, with each section having a life of its own.

This work displayed a few different partnerships that seem to be developing within the company. In one duet the contrast of height between dancers Natalie Allen and Andrew Crawford could have appeared as awkward, but it was very complimentary. Once again Chen Wen did not disappoint and his perfectly square arabesque line was enough to make any lover of technique go weak at the knees. His entire solo really showed off his abilities and had an edge to it that made him stand out. Some of the other male dancers seemed to lack the stage presence that is expected at this level of performance; something was missing.

There was a moment where it felt like the dancers were arriving at their destination and that all the elements were going to culminate to end the work, but then there was a new beginning. A whole new section started, with a duo introducing a pop of colour with red draped costumes, and the lightning changing from dim and white light to an array of vibrant colours.

2 One Another delved into relationships and human interaction, which is something we all experience every day. With this work the dancers’ interactions became their own lives recorded in the medium of movement.

Published by Dance Informa dance magazine – everything dance in Australia – dance news, dance auditions & dance events.

Sydney Theatre
October 2011

By Dolce Fisher

Sydney Dance Company’s second installment for the year was the Land of Yes and the Land of No. Originally commissioned for Bonachela Dance Company in 2009 and receiving international acclaim, Australian audiences had the pleasure of delighting in its artistry.

Inspired by traffic signs and the way we navigate through our lives, the work was expanded from a cast of six to ten for the SDC production.  It was full of a myriad of motifs and embellished with canon upon canon. Bonachela is truly a creator of choreography of mathematical proportions. Some sections contained so much intricate detail and were executed with such precision, that it made me think twice about the movement I’d just witnessed.

Opening with an emotional solo performed by Charmene Yap she left the stage looking back, choosing to walk a different path in life, reminiscent of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken.  Other highlights were Chen Wen and Natalie Allen’s childlike flirtatious duo and Richard Cilli’s intense solo.

The lighting design by Guy Hoare created a maze of fluorescent light structure, changing and creating doorways and patterns. The light often took shape like the directions on my GPS direct the way I should travel.

Theo Clinkard’s costuming was a hit and a miss. The women were styled well with a very feminine edge that really complimented the movement. On the other hand there were male dancers in shorts which allowed you to see the lines created, then others were dressed in massive pleated pants which hindered the choreography.

The work was set to the music of Ezio Bosso and it had a similar emotional quality to that of other Bonachela/Bosso collaborations, but this score had more light and shade.  One beautiful section featured just the piano and the plucking of strings and others included vocal chanting and brass instruments. After seeing the partnership of Bosso and Bonachela develop it will be interesting to see how Bonachela’s choreography will diversify in 2012.

I give a ‘Yes’ to amazing, inspiring and beautiful!

And the winners are…

The winners of this year’s Australian Dance Awards were announced on Sunday July 24 in a ceremony at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

The annual Australian Dance Awards recognise and reward professional Australian dance artists who have made an outstanding contribution to dance in the previous year. The Awards are presented in an evening of performance and celebration that showcases some of Australia’s outstanding dancers and dance works.

Ruth Osborne with two awards! Mark Greenmantle Photography

Ten Awards were given, as well as the special induction of Keith Bain OAM into the Hall of Fame. An outstanding teacher and performer, Keith danced with the Bodenwieser Ballet, founded the Australasian Teachers of Contemporary Dance (CDA), the Society of Dance Artists (SODA), the Dancer’s Picnic (forerunner to the Australian Dance Awards), and is a founding member of Ausdance. Keith is a recipient of two Australian Dance Awards: for Services to Dance Education (2003) and for Lifetime Achievement (1999).  Keith established, and was for many years, head of movement studies at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA).

The 2011 Australian Dance Awards were held in Queensland for the first time in its 14 year history in Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s (QPAC) Playhouse. Featured performances included those from Queensland Ballet, Expressions Dance Company, Dancenorth, Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA), Sydney Dance Company and Sue Peacock with Stefan Karlsson from Western Australia. 

Initiated in 1986 by Keith Bain as a Dancers’ Picnic, the Awards have grown to become the major event in the national dance calendar bringing prestige to nominees and winners alike.

The winners of a 2011 Australian Dance Awards:

Lifetime Achievement
Robina Beard OAM  
Robina Beard was awarded an OAM earlier this year for her services to the arts, particularly through dance, and she has had a long-standing relationship with the Australian Dance Awards, Ausdance and the Cecchetti Society. Robina has excelled in many different roles throughout her life as a dancer, performer, director, choreographer, teacher and advisor. She has been passionately committed to raising the standards of both performance and teaching in this country and has a long-standing commitment to developing and supporting Indigenous dance. She has worked extensively on television in musical, dramatic and comedy series, and was well known for her long-running series of commercials as “Madge” the manicurist for Palmolive dishwashing liquid.

Services to Dance
Ruth Osborne, Artistic Director – QL2 Dance in Canberra

Services to Dance Education
Valda Craig, one of Australia’s leading dance educators and advocates for over 40 years

Outstanding Achievement in Youth or Community Dance
QL2 Dance for Hard Yards

Outstanding Achievement in Choreography
Rafael Bonachela for 6 Breaths [Sydney Dance Company]

Outstanding Performance by a Company
Expressions Dance Company for Where the Heart Is

Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance
Narelle Benjamin for In Glass

Outstanding Performance by a Female Dancer
Amy Hollingsworth for Irony of Fate [Sydney Dance Company]

Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer
Daniel Gaudiello for Coppelia [The Australian Ballet]

Outstanding Performance in a Stage Musical
Alinta Chidzey for West Side Story

Dance Informa was the proud Major Media Sponsor for the 2011 Australian Dance Awards.

Top photo: Queensland Ballet Hungarian Overture. Photo by Mark Greenmantle

Sydney Theatre
March 2011

By Dolce Fisher.

This season Sydney Dance Company got it right! With an array of talent across dance, music and design working seamlessly together, Shared Frequencies was a masterpiece.

Italy’s Jacopo Godani premiered his newly commissioned work, Raw Models. Dressed in all black and set to music by German duo 48nord, the dancers captured Godani’s style. The influence of William Forsythe on Godani’s choreography is visible, but I can happily say that he has a style of his own.

Raw Models opened with stark white light and a loud musical introduction that got the audience’s attention from the first moment. With the stage set as a giant black box and the dancers in black costuming, the strong bright lighting became very visually conflicting. The dancers were almost insect looking at times but this was then contrasted with softer more balletic movement.

LANDforms, by Rafael Bonachela and musician Ezio Bosso can only be described as a creative match made in heaven. Artistically the pair seem to understand each other – as the season’s title suggests they do in fact share the same frequency. The combination of music, dance and design complemented one another with simplicity, yet complexity.

The choreography was danced seamlessly, but it was nothing simple. There were many canons, not only using movement, but also spacial patterns, powerful jumps, and intricate partner work.

The choreography featured individual dancers with several short solos. There is something unique about new company member Andrew Crawford. He drew our attention from the first moment of his solo. Chen Wen’s dynamics and attack were outstanding.  His grand jeté in second was breathtaking.

Ezio Bosso’s music is quite intoxicating, written for only the piano, cello and violin. It needed nothing more, except to be recorded, so it can be enjoyed again and again! Katie Noonan’s voice was haunting and completed Bosso’s score.  What was unique about this show was that both works featured newly commissioned musical scores. As contemporary dance is rarely performed to live music, this show is a must see.

Shared Frequencies was brilliant. All of the dancers must be commended. Their level of expertise was phenomenal. The dancers were so in tune with each other, as they too seemed to be on the same frequency.

A dynamic portrait of an artist at work and the impact her life and death has on her collaborators.

DIRECTOR: Bryan Mason, Sophie Hyde

In 2007 the Sydney Dance Company appointed 29-year-old choreographer Tanja Liedtke as their first new artistic director in 30 years. However before she could take up the position, she was struck and killed by a truck in the middle of the night. Admired internationally as a dancer and celebrated for her fresh choreographic voice, she was known as a dedicated artist, intelligent, dorky, funny and generous. 18 months after her death her collaborators embark on a world tour of her work, and in the process they must deal with their grief and explore the reasons for her death. Interspersed with intimate footage of her artistic process and previously unseen interviews, Life in Movement is a film about moving creatively through life and loss. Local filmmakers Bryan Mason and Sophie Hyde give us a powerfully rendered take on art and artists, creativity and our own mortality.

Screening in Adelaide as part of the Bigpond Adelaide Film Festival.
Screening times:
Thur 3 Mar 8:30pm Piccadily Cinema 1
Sat 5 Mar 3:00pm Palace 7

Go in the draw for a Double Pass to the Saturday 5 March screening.
Click here www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/form.asp
BAFF will notify the winner and tickets can be collected at the Box Office, 6 Cinema Place, Adelaide.

Further information about the film festival can be found at www.adelaidefilmfestival.org

Photo: Julian Crotti

On life since Sydney Dance Company and the future ahead.

By Rain Francis.

What have been your most rewarding experiences since Sydney Dance Company?
Forging a new relationship with the Australian Ballet on a more ongoing basis has been really good for me. One of the things you pine for on a daily basis as a choreographer is the connection with dancers who ‘get it’. When you run into a company and do the work and run out, it’s very hard to make that real connection. Janet [Vernon] and I have been working now [with the Australian Ballet] for years and years but more and more intensely over the last few years, so we know the new up and coming, we know the elite establishment of the company and we know the dancers in between. It means that you can really work with them to the fullest and you’re not just imposing on them, but you really have a rapport with them.

Apart from that, being able to be freelance,  having time to do things like Mao’s Last Dancer, and doing more opera; they’re things I really love.

Doing the odd, really out of left field involvement with something like Mod Dance Company is such an exciting thing for me. It gets worrying sometimes in a country where there aren’t a lot of full time companies. Sometimes state companies can be slightly duplicative of each other, so to have something that’s independent and able to change its philosophy and do something completely different the next time round is great. That sort of flexibility is something that a lot of companies don’t have.

You’re the choreographer of Suite Synergy, the first work by Mod Dance Company. Why is this new company important?
Because they’re giving an opportunity for something new to emerge. We’ll always have the regular companies that are government subsidized, but it’s really incredible to have a brave new face and give different things opportunities that perhaps are beyond what we expect of the mainstream. They are actually making this adventure possible through their energy. I am inspired by their enthusiasm and love of the art and genuine belief that there is room (and I believe this too) for as much good dance in Australia as we can cram into it.

Photo: Hugh Hamilton

Can you impart some of your wisdom onto budding choreographers?
The things a choreographer needs more than anything else are a body to work with and a stage to show that work on. You can work forever in a studio and one day you need to, if this is your philosophy, say, ‘I’m not doing this for myself, I’m really doing this because I want to communicate’. So you have to find a way, and that’s one of the skills, of finding people who will trust you with their bodies to create on them and people who will trust you enough to show the work you’ve made. It’s a tough one. So many companies now are signature companies so it’s hard to get a voice and get seen. That’s one of the processes young choreographers have to think about:  the sort of people they’d like to work with, the sort of people they’d like to see their work, and how they will make that happen. I wish there was a magical formula, but there’s not.

Which other choreographers are you intrigued by at the moment?
Because I started within a big company doing little bits and got more and more passionate about it, I’m fascinated by any of the new breed of choreographers. I can’t get enough of fledgling work. Sometimes I think in your very first work, you show the germ of what will one day blossom; you may not have the skill yet. I love it when companies give young choreographers a chance. I find that more fascinating than looking at the established names because I’m always more interested in the process than the finished product. I don’t care how extreme it is, I just want to know that someone’s got something to say that no-one else is saying.

What’s the best asset a dancer can have?
An openness and a willingness to give to a choreographer. I’m not talking about doing the work for the choreographer, I’m talking about those people who can tap into a choreographer’s need, who look at what the choreographer is attempting to transfer, take it, run with it and make it look like that choreographer was born to create on them.  I was lucky I had a Janet Vernon but I was also lucky I had a company of 18 beautiful dancers who really got what I wanted and really helped me get my message out there. They understood. And that’s not a quick process. A smart dancer tunes into what the choreographer is trying to say and gives the choreographer a louder voice.

What are you most looking forward to in the coming year?
I’ve got a beautiful year. One of the blessings of not being in a company is that I have flexibility to say ‘yes’ to things I might not have had time to say ‘yes’ to, to do things that might not have been within the company’s philosophy that I worked in, to really be totally free… and also to garden [laughs]. And also to laugh, and to go out and meet people outside the world of dance. My life has changed incredibly and beautifully, but my passion has not dwindled at all. 

Dancers inspire me, watching other people perform is thrilling. When you get dancers to cross that threshold from just being a practitioner to becoming an artist, that’s the most rewarding thing in the world. I’m very lucky. I’m blessed to be in this profession. It’s never let me down, it’s never bored me. It’s sometimes frustrated me, but it’s been my life and I hope it continues to be.

Top photo: Linda Alescio – Founding Director of MDC, Jarvis Hunder – Producer of MDC Television Production, Michelle Grace Hunder – Director MDC, Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon, Brett Morgan – Artistic Director MDC, Nico Hyland – Founding Director Coruscade (MDC Commercial Management team)

The Playhouse, Arts Centre, Melbourne
November 9th

By Paul Ransom

If dance is ‘about’ anything then this is surely it. We Unfold is visceral, passionate and achingly beautiful. Driven by a dense emotional score and played out before a backdrop of subtly morphing video spacescapes, it is utterly breathtaking.  

Sydney Dance Company’s recently appointed artistic director Rafael Bonachela has surely taken Australian contemporary dance to the stars with this piece. The sheer boldness and unrelenting beauty of We Unfold underscores an approach that is at once daring and primal. For all the obvious technical rigour, what really grabs you is the uncensored emotion and belief of the dancers. There is not a moment of timidity in this magical hour.

In fact it’s hard to maintain the usual critical cool with this piece. Its rawness and energy, its tenderness and incredible longing simply drown you. If Bonachela set out to explore the ways in which emotion and desire unfold within each of us then he has surely succeeded; and indeed it might be said that dance is the perfect language for such an exploration. At any rate We Unfold is hard to fault. 

Photos by David Wyatt

Of course Bonachela is more than ably assisted in this by the music of Italian composer Ezio Bosso, whose first full length symphony, Oceans, is a hypnotic, Glass like cello and orchestra drone that perfectly carries the spiritual melodrama of the dance.

Behind it all, Daniel Askill’s video art completes the ocean/space metaphor with a piece that mirrors Godfrey Reggio’s trip movie masterpiece Koyaanisqatsi. The real cleverness of this is that it doesn’t at any point detract from the dancers, whose beauty and unflinching, sweaty commitment makes you gasp.

Whilst Bonachela doesn’t exactly rewrite the choreographic rule book here that’s hardly the point. The fifteen strong cast move with such sensuous, athletic grace and expressive power that you are taken right into the heart of their ‘unfolding’.  Beauty is an often humbling thing, even as it uplifts you. We Unfold hits that rarely touched nerve. It is genuinely moving and other worldly; but for all that, unmistakably human. Surely this is what they invented dance for.

Sydney Dance Company presented We Unfold in Melbourne this month - a work adored by Sydney audiences last year. David Wyatt enjoyed photographing the talented dancers.
Copyright David Wyatt david.wyatt@capturingimages.com.au www.capturingimages.com.au

Sydney Theatre.
October 2010

By Dolce Fisher.

New Creations 2 was a mix of old and new with two re-staged works from Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela and a world premiere by Israeli born choreographer Emanuel Gat.

The evening began with a welcome from Rafael. Personal introductions from Artistic Directors seem to be becoming popular and it was refreshing to hear directly from the choreographer.

Opening the evening was The Irony Fate, with the stage shared by dancer Amy Hollingsworth and violinist Ruth Palmer. The pair performed beautifully, combining movement and music. It was an exquisite execution of Bonachela’s vision. Award winning dancer Amy Hollingsworth showed why she is so revered. Every single movement used her entire body and she interpreted the choreography magically.  I could not fault her. The Irony of Fate was sadly Amy’s farewell to the performance side of her career. Thankfully though, we won’t lose her completely as she has transitioned into the role of Rehearsal Director. Violinist Ruth Palmer matched Hollingsworth’s level of excellence with her musical performance.

After such a breathtaking piece we then enjoyed Bonachela’s Soledad. It felt like we were looking in on a couple’s quarrel; a myriad of love, hate and passion. Well portrayed by Richard Cilli and Emily Amisano, they both brought their characters to life allowing the choreography to speak for itself. Bonachela is such a brilliant and intelligent choreographer. He is keeping the company among the world’s best.

The evening ended with Emanuel Gat’s new work Satisfying Musical Moments. It was a distinct variation from the first two works performed. It was very pedestrian and made us feeling as though we were ‘people watching’. The stage was stripped bare with very simple lighting. The costumes were very individual and made us feel as though we were watching a bunch of people in the street, not a dance company. The random quality of the costumes stopped the piece from looking like a formal work and made me see the individual people on stage.

Throughout the piece the dancers stood around the edges of the stage, or at the front with their backs toward the audience. As an audience member this was slightly irritating, but it did build on the idea of standing back and observing. Each audience member became a ‘people watcher’ with the dancers.

I did like Gat’s ideas, however the work didn’t feel as polished in its presentation as some of the company’s other recent works. But perhaps being so different is a good thing for both the audience and the dancers?

By Dolce Fisher.

Emanuel Gat, acclaimed Israeli contemporary choreographer and Artistic Director of Emanuel Gat Dance, is creating groundbreaking works across Europe. Recently Gat came to Australia and is currently rehearsing with Sydney Dance Company developing a new work for New Creations 2, due to premiere this month.

Emanuel’s work is noted for the formality of his deceptively intricate choreography and for a consistency of vision. Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela describes Gat as “a master of purity, creating works imbued with incredible musicality.  He is one of the most exciting choreographers in the world today, but his work has not been seen before in Sydney.” 

Busy in the studio with the company, Gat shared a moment with me to talk about his career and choreography.

You started dance quite late – in your twenties. How did that affect your journey?
I went to a workshop for amateurs with two Israeli choreographers and after two months they asked me to work with the company. So as strange as it sounds, I basically started dancing professionally only a few months after I began dancing. Then I realised that this is something I really wanted to do. I am doing something that I love to do and I never feel like I’m working.

So you had no previous formal dance training?
In dance no, but I was very much into sports. So physically I was ready, in the context of contemporary dance. Of course, if I had chosen classical dance it would have been much harder. Contemporary dance allows more personal, let’s say ‘way of life’ [movement]. I also have a musical background.

So what was your inspiration for your new work with SDC?
My inspiration is always my encounter with the dancers, the moment I meet them, and the process. There is no inspiration before I get there. I don’t plan the subject or theme. Ideas, the process and the style of these people generate it all. It is really a process generated from the company/dancers I am working with.

Sydney Dance Company's New Creations 2

Did you get to spend time with the dancers before you began the choreography?
No, I was working mainly on the music, because I wrote the music for this work. So for the last six months it has been a parallel process of creating and constantly working in the studio, whether with my company or another commission. There is always a continuous process .It takes a new shape when you get into the studio with the dancers. I don’t make the choreography; rather create a context to work from with the dancers.

You have worked with many companies including your own, Sydney Dance Company and also the Paris Opera Ballet. How have the dancers influenced you in different ways?
The Paris Opera is a very unique example. It is so different from anything else I have done. The dancers and the company are different from what I usually work with. SCD, on the other side of the world, is very similar to my dancers at home. They have the same technique, context of references and approach to dance making, so really they speak the same language. But when you jump into a place like the PO it has its rules and goals and the dancers are trained in a very specific way. So for me, this specific experience was more interesting. I wanted to go to them and see what I could do there, rather than erase everything they do and make them contemporary dancers that they are not. So what was interesting to me was to work with them in their pointe shoes and to investigate that, because pointes are a specific tool. It is so natural to them. They walk in them like slippers (laughs).

Did they change your process to choreographing on the company?
No, the process is always the same whether I have contemporary, classical or hip-hop dancers. It still comes from the dancers, their abilities and their logic of movement. I don’t try to change them but take what they have to bring. It is not interesting for me to kind of break them, but rather use who they are and use this to create.

So you have worked with hip-hop dancers also?
Yes, there is a festival in France that actually does that. They get the most amazing hip-hop dancers and contemporary choreographers to work with them. It allows hip-hop to gain the respect that it deserves, because it doesn’t always get the same respect as other styles.

Emanuel Gat is in the process of creating a full length work titled ‘Brilliant Corners’ for 12 dancers at Emanuel Gat Dance, set to his own musical score. After the premiere work for Sydney Dance Company, Gat will return to France to continue work on this project.

See Emanuel Gat’s work first hand during Sydney Dance Company’s next exciting season.

New Creations 2
October 12 – 23
Sydney Theatre
Bookings: Sydney Theatre Box Office 9250 1999 or Ticketek 132 849 www.ticketek.com.au

Top photo: Emanuel Gat by BrunoPoinsard

Published by www.danceinforma.com