New Breed 2022 Program

What an incredible year it has been for Sydney Dance Company – from our international tour to France, to our successful Sydney seasons of ab [intra] and Resound – it is such a joy to be back in theatres fulltime and sharing the power of contemporary dance with you all again. As 2022 draws to a close, I am beyond excited to celebrate the next generation of Australian choreographic talent with our ninth season of New Breed at Carriageworks!

Sydney Dance Company is fully committed to fostering space for the next generation of Australian choreographic talent, amplifying the now to support the future. The four choreographers of New Breed 2022 are diverse in their background, their experience and their inspiration and I am delighted that all four have chosen to explore such thought-provoking, challenging and stimulating themes for their works. This is the very essence of New Breed and each year, I am heartened by how our emerging choreographers rise to the challenge and embrace the possibilities of working with the ensemble and our talented creative and technical team. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Sophia, Jenni, Charmene and Luke for their work and their practice; what you will see proves that Australian contemporary dance has a bright future.

Our partnership with Carriageworks on New Breed is long-standing and greatly cherished: this is an incredible and inspiring space for choreographers, dancers and audiences alike. We are very appreciative of how this collaboration has allowed New Breed to flourish and I’d like to thank the

Carriageworks team led by Blair French. I would also like to thank and acknowledge the support of the Federal Government through the Australia Council of the Arts and the NSW Government through Create NSW for their generous and enduring support for Sydney Dance Company, and the broader arts community, over the last few years. Their collective belief in the importance, value and power of the arts is heartening and enormously appreciated.

The success of New Breed would not be possible without the ongoing support of The Balnaves Foundation. This season will be our first since the tragic passing of Neil Balnaves AO earlier this year. As one of Sydney Dance Company’s most passionate supporters, Neil’s leadership, generosity and boundless commitment to nurturing the future of Australian contemporary dance is a legacy that will carry on for generations to come. Principal Partner of New Breed since its inception, The Balnaves Foundation have been instrumental in New Breed’s success. The visionary leadership of the trustee has created an invaluable framework to nurture Australian choreographic talent. Their generosity in providing additional support has allowed us to extend the season once again this year. We sincerely thank them for their dedication and leadership in bringing artists and audiences together.

I hope you enjoy New Breed 2022 and I look forward to celebrating a decade of this powerful season next year.

Rafael Bonachela Artistic Director, Sydney Dance Company

Photo: Pedro Greig

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Sydney Dance Company back to Carriageworks for the ninth edition here of New Breed – a critical initiative that supports the very best new Australian choreographers through the annual commissioning and presentation of new work. New Breed is always a highlight of our annual program and we are looking forward with great anticipation to new work by Luke Hayward, Jenni Large, Sophia Ndaba and Charmene Yap adding to the burgeoning legacy of choreographic innovation and the pure celebration of dance that New Breed has built over almost a decade.

New Breed is co-presented by Carriageworks and Sydney Dance Company, in conjunction with The Balnaves Foundation, whose commitment to the program is vital to the future of Australian contemporary dance. This is the first New Breed produced and presented since the tragic passing of Neil Balnaves AO earlier this year. On behalf of Carriageworks I acknowledge Neil’s extraordinary commitment to dance and the arts more broadly in Australia, and his strong belief in the importance of supporting artists to pursue excellence from the very earliest moments in their careers.

We thank Hamish Balnaves, Victoria Balnaves and the Balnaves Family Foundation for their unwavering sustenance of New Breed We give thanks to Rafael Bonachela for his continued hard work and dedication in supporting a range of Australian voices and welcome Lou Oppenheim to Carriageworks for her first New Breed as Executive Director of Sydney Dance Company. Thanks also to the NSW Government through Create NSW and the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts for their integral ongoing investment and confidence in our contemporary multi-arts program, and to you the audience for honouring these works and artists with interest, attention and your enquiring minds.

Blair French Chief Executive Officer, Carriageworks

The Balnaves Foundation is extremely excited to be supporting the 9th edition of New Breed, enabling four dynamic choreographers to bring their unique craft to the Carriageworks’ stage. Our founder, Neil Balnaves AO, was a fervent support of the arts, and for him, New Breed was a highlight of the year.

The Foundation’s passion and commitment to emerging artists is embodied in New Breed, and we are delighted that since 2014, 35 Australian choreographers have had the opportunity to participate in this program, with many going on to successful national and international careers. Supporting programs for emerging artists is essential, and New Breed’s function as an incubator for rising talent is now well established. We are proud to support Australia’s creative community and the vital role the arts play in our cultural legacy.

After witnessing Sydney Dance Company’s return to touring both domestically and overseas, this next iteration of New Breed is a wonderful way to conclude such a successful year. We are thrilled to be supporting Sydney Dance Company in extending the season to fifteen performances again in 2022. This extension provides the choreographers with the opportunity to share their creative vision with a larger audience and offers lovers of dance more opportunities to experience these works live.

Fostering the talents of the next generation of artists is a privilege and something Neil was a staunch advocate for. The Foundation is pleased to continue Neil’s legacy and our support of Sydney Dance Company as it solidifies the future of contemporary dance in Australia.

Victoria Balnaves Trustee, The Balnaves Foundation

Photo: Pedro Greig

THE VEIL OF SEPARATION SOPHIA NDABA

From the micro to the macro, The Veil of Separation explores the idea of a split and the liminal space created between sides. Six bodies merge, move and migrate into and out of separation as they are challenged and framed by a statuesque hanging fabric.

Invoked by a fusion of qualities from animal, machine, human to extraterrestrial, forces of separation pull on these dancers as they engage in an enigmatic journey of separation back to oneness.

A special thank you to the dancers in studio and performing on stage for their contributions to this work: Jesse Scales, Connor McMahon, Chris Mills, Josie Cullen, Angus Onley, Luke Hayward, Tamara Bouman, Lucy Angel and Emily Seymour.

Choreographer Sophia Ndaba

Music Blue Pools - Tim Ayre and Jack Glass

Set Designer Actualised by Aleisa Jelbart and Guy Harding

Costume Designer Aleisa Jelbart

Lighting Designer Alexander Berlarge

S U C K E R JENNI LARGE

Suckling at the breasts of horror, shuddering with effort, our temptation throbs, our flesh ruptures and we find ourselves pulled into a discordant cult-like nightclub.

Knives screech, dripping heat - pain and pleasure fraternise in this space between the living and the dead, here where our darkest desires demand our undivided attention.

Where primal reigns. Lavish, pulsating, irresistible. Writhing between bloody sheets. We have been summoned. Unquenchable.

Beware the lipstick coated kiss of death - you know the tropes…

“Give yourself over to absolute pleasure, swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh. Erotic nightmares beyond any measure and sensual day dreams to treasure forever… Don’t dream it, be it” - Richard O’Brien, Rocky Horror Picture Show

Enter the cave, S U C K E R, what are you afraid of?

Deepest gratitude to the incredible dancers and technical crew, whose trust, commitment and generosity has evolved and actualised this work beyond what I could have imagined.

Choreographer

Jenni Large in collaboration with the dancers

Composer Anna Whitaker

Dramaturgy Ashleigh Musk

Costume Designer Aleisa Jelbart

Lighting Designer Alexander Berlarge

THE REMNANTS OF LUKE HAYWARD

“I remember the tone the sunlight made Reflecting as it did That first breath of late night morning air The feeling that here was anywhere and anywhere was kind” – Rick Holland

For me, dance is the output of everything happening in my life, and so the input is everything happening outside of the studio. The remnants of contextualises my emotions, thoughts, and opinions, becoming a visual autoethnography, a self-reflection and expression of the last few years.

Irrationalism, romanticism, reminiscing, escapism.

Experimenting with Dadaism and Romanticism, the movement and structure of the work finds poetic motivation in the collision between music and body. I Remember by Rick Holland, a poem written for the series Late Night Tales, is a visual poem about the repetition of the sunset and life. By using the Dadaism cut-up technique, visual sentences are used to create new meaning. With its specific rhythm and musicality, alongside the visual elements in space, the work opens up possibilities for interpretation.

Just as much as this process has explored my personal experience, I hope the audience can reflect and connect through their own experiences.

Choreographer and Dancer Luke Hayward

Original Poem I Remember by Rick Holland

Spoken Text Luke Hayward

Costume Designer Aleisa Jelbart and Annie Robinson

Lighting Designer Alexander Berlage

DRUNK TANK PINK CHARMENE YAP

The starting point for Drunk Tank Pink came from a social experiment in the 70s by psychology and physiology researcher, Dr Alexander Schlauss, where the discovery of a particular shade of bubble-gum pink was reportedly found to have a profound temporary calming effect. In the experiment, Schlauss convinced a correctional facility in Seattle to paint their prison cells this pink tone. He observed that prisoners, after spending 15 minutes confined in these cells, seemed to be pacified and had a reduction in erratic and hostile behaviour.

This bubble-gum pink phenomenon sparked a wider exploration in my work, into how our thoughts, emotions and actions are subliminally affected by unexpected forces within us, between us and in the wider physical world. As we face hundreds of discrete pieces of sensory stimuli every day, our brains are constantly gathering information and interpreting it. In the busy world which we live in, how do we avoid a full-tilt shutdown from this bombardment of stimuli and saturation of information? Where is the line between individual choice and reactions to external cues?

Dennison

With inspiration and excerpts from: Quia Ergo Femina Morten Instruxit by Hildegard von Bingen (C12th) and Zadok the Priest by George Frideric Handel (1727). Quia Ergo Femina Morten Instruxit performed and interpreted by Sonya Holowell. Duet constructed from improvisations by Jessica O’Donoghue with responses by Sonya Holowell.

Choreographer

Charmene Yap in collaboration with the dancers

Composer Alyx

Costume Designer

Aleisa Jelbart

Lighting and Set Designer

Alexander Berlarge

Photo: Pedro Greig

NEW BREED PARTNERS

Sydney Dance Company

Sydney Dance Company has been led since 2009 by Spanish-born Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela and over that time the Company has cemented its reputation as a creative powerhouse. An acclaimed group of 17 dancers present new work each year by Bonachela and other choreographers, designers, composers and musicians.

Sydney Dance Company has a broad community beyond the practice and performance of its dancers. We believe in the universality of dance, and with the largest public dance class program in Australia, both online and in-studio, thousands connect each year with the grace, strength and creativity that lives within all of us.

Our nation-wide education program offers a strategic curriculum targeting primary and secondary students through to career focused study for pre-professional dancers and university graduates.

Carriageworks

Carriageworks is one of Australia’s most renowned and significant contemporary multi-arts organisations. We support artists and producers to develop and present major new works in performance, visual arts and related artforms. Reflecting the diverse communities of urban Sydney, our artist-led program is ambitious, radical and always inclusive.

The Balnaves Foundation

The Balnaves Foundation is a private philanthropic organisation established in 2006 by Neil Balnaves AO. The Foundation provides support to charitable organisations that aim to create a better Australia through education, medicine and the arts with a focus on young people, social disadvantage and Indigenous Australia.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

New Breed is presented on the land of the Gadigal of the Eora Nation. Carriageworks, Sydney Dance Company and The Balnaves Foundation acknowledge the Gadigal people and pay respect to elders past and present.

Carriageworks partners with Sydney Dance Company to present New Breed through the ongoing support of the NSW Government through Create NSW and the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts. The Balnaves Foundation is the New Breed Principal Partner.

CARRIAGEWORKS STAFF

Board

Cass O’Connor (Chair)

Geoff Ainsworth AM

Michael Gonski

Andrew Maiden

Matthew McCarron

Gitanjali Bhalla

Sani Townson

Cameron Honey Timothy Snape (Observer)

Chief Executive Officer

Blair French

Executive Assistant

Chantel Bann

Director, First Nations Programs

Jacob Boehme

Director, Partnerships & Communication Enid Charlton

Director, Commercial Andrew Demetriou

Director, Events & Production Kri Leitner

Director, Corporate Services

Mike Worner

Curator, Programs

Aarna Fitzgerald Hanley

Exhibition Manager

Glenn Thompson Education Officer, Solid Ground Debbie Higgison

Senior Producer, First Nations Programs Pippa Pailey

Program Assistant, First Nations Programs

Katherine Stone

Performance Program Producer

Lillian Silk

Head of Marketing

Electra Foley

Partnerships Manager

Jannah Anderson

Fundraising Manager

Camila Chapman

Digital Marketing Specialist

Ben Allison

Ticketing and Customer Relations Coordinator

Lena Li

Solid Ground Marketing Coordinator

Skylar Akbar

Visitor Services Officer

Eddie Gock

Clare Rosen McGarry

Commercial Account Manager

Michelle Cao

Commercial Account Manager

Emma Carson

Producer, Events Black Robinson

Production Manager

Dominic Hamra

Technical Manager

Dean Odgers

Farmers Markets Creative Director

Mike McEnearney

Producer, Food Events Jessica Abrahams

Assistant Producer, Food Events

Spencer Morrow

Finance and Administrative Manager

Janine Peukert

Finance and Administrative Assistant

Caitlin Tiley

Head of Operations

Megan Davis

Building Facilities Manager

Robert Charter

Building Facilities Assistant Rodrigo Arriaza

Photo: Pedro Greig

Photo: Pedro Greig