Artistic Director’s Report

What an incredible year 2022 was! We returned to the world stage, and once again toured the best of contemporary dance to Australian audiences around the country. We launched INDance with the support of the City of Sydney, we returned to Melbourne and reconnected with friends and audiences, and we celebrated the joy and artistry of dance with our sector colleagues at DanceX: Festival of Dance.

For many years I wanted to bring renowned international choreographer Ohad Naharin to Australia and in 2022 this dream became a reality as part of the Sydney Festival. Bursting at the seams with vitality and impact, featuring physical refinement alongside playfulness, Decadance is contemporary dance that speaks to everyone, and this performance season marked the company’s full ensemble return to the Sydney Opera House stage since 2017.

After two years of interrupted plans, I was incredibly excited to take Sydney Dance Company once again on a national tour. When COVID-19 struck in March 2020, Impermanence was only four days from its world premiere and opening night. As the impact of the pandemic became apparent, performances were cancelled, and artists sent into lockdown. Impermanence finally took to the stage in 2021, only to once again be interrupted by the Omicron wave and 16 of 26 performances were cancelled. So it was with bated breath, and an incredible sense of a project long in planning finally on the cusp of fruition, that we took to the road in 2022 and brought this thrilling work to life for audiences around Australia, including some very special performances in Melbourne with the Australian String Quartet joining us live on stage.

Sydney Dance Company continued our relationship with the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, a key partner in commissioning new works, through their support of Years @ MPavillion, Melbourne. With the Foundation’s support I was able to choreograph a site-specific version of Years featuring six dancers.

The event was our first performance in Melbourne, and a wonderful welcome back, since the beginning of the pandemic, and it drew an especially large audience of supporters and media.

After almost three years it was such a privilege to perform on the international stage again in our incredibly successful tour to France. We were overwhelmed by the warm welcome ab [intra] received with standing ovations, rave reviews, and a completely sold-out season at Paris’ prestigious Théâtre National de Chaillot.

I was thrilled to bring ab [intra] to our audiences at home for a season at the Roslyn

Packer Theatre. When creating ab [intra] I wanted to capture the energy and drive I feel each time I walk into the studio. The dancers are an integral part of my creative process; they give life and form to my instincts and creative impulses, and I thank them for their generosity and tireless efforts.

Sydney Dance Company is fully committed to fostering space for the next generation of Australian talent, amplifying the now to support the future. It was a thrill to bring the ninth Season of New Breed to life with four emerging choreographers of such diverse backgrounds and experience, and who chose to explore such thought-provoking, challenging, and stimulating themes through their works. Our partnerships with Carriageworks and The Balnaves Foundation on New Breed are long standing and greatly cherished.

I am humbled to have this year been named a friend of the Maison de Cartier and in celebration of this announcement I was delighted to choreograph a duet performed over two nights at a Cartier Gala event at Phoenix Central Park, Sydney. I was also delighted to have Sydney Dance Company be a leading feature in the opening of Cartier’s new flagship store.

I acknowledge and express my sincere gratitude to our donors for their ongoing support which enables us to nurture young dancers through programs such as the Pre-Professional Year. This year, two cohorts of bold and committed dancers took to the stage for PPY22 Revealed and I am incredibly grateful to Hermès Australia, long-term production partners of this performance season, for their continued support which has allowed this program to flourish.

In August we launched INDance our new season of independent dance presented in the Neilson Studio and supported by the City of Sydney. Featuring four works by incredible independent Australian artists, it was such a joy to support the independent dance sector with a soldout inaugural season.

Sydney Dance Company welcomed audiences back to Sydney for the Resound performance season in October. The triple bill featured two world premieres; Summer choreographed by me, and The Universe is Here by Australian choreographer Stephanie Lake, as well as the return of my work Ocho. It is an intricate and complex process bringing new and existing works to the stage, and Resound’s success was made possible by the generosity, creativity, and hard work of our artistic collaborators; composers Nick Wales, Kate Moore and Robin Fox, lighting designer Damien Cooper, costume and production designer David Fleischer, contemporary Australian fashion house Romance Was Born, iconic Australian visual artist Ken Done, costume designer Harriet Oxley and harpist Emily Granger. Sydney Dance Company is proud to continue to seek out and amplify the work of Australia’s best creatives through our collaborations, partnerships, and commissions.

Of course, these extraordinary commissions and collaborations would not have been possible without the support of the Carla Zampatti Commissioning Fund, and I remain forever grateful to the Zampatti family and the many generous donors who underpin this crucial fund. This initiative was named in honour of Carla in 2022 in recognition of her longstanding commitment to new and exciting works.

Rafael Bonachela Artistic Director