On the Road
Touring continues to play an integral role in the life of Sydney Dance Company and 2019 was no exception. In addition to our three Sydney seasons, we shared our work extensively across Australia and around the world, reaching 31,302 people in Australia and 7,390 internationally. In 2019 the Bonachela / Nankivell / Lane program which premiered in Sydney hit the road and was performed in 11 Australian towns and cities, with 24 performances across five states and territories: Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart, regional Nothern Territory, regional Victoria and regional South Australia. Executive Director Anne Dunn said of touring, ”As the country’s leading contemporary dance company, we make it our mission to inspire and engage as many people as possible through dance. We do this by bringing our work to the smallest communities, regional centres and all seven capital cities. We engage people of all ages with our work through performances, education and outreach activities and professional development opportunities while on tour. It is also our responsibility to continuously evolve the artform, while extending our reach and enabling more people to benefit from watching and participating in it.” She continued, “We make a significant contribution to the Australian arts landscape through the range of artists we commission and the new Australian works produced each year, by Rafael and the next generation of dance makers. Our audiences are always our most important collaborators. We want them to come on the journey with us and we do this by conveying our message about dance while inspiring and challenging them.”
For the fifth year, the national touring program was enhanced by an extensive workshop program for young people, supported by the Thyne Reid Foundation. This program sees teaching artists visit communities across Australia to deliver workshops to primary and secondary school students, in the run up to the Company’s visit to the local theatre. In 2019, 119 workshops were delivered to 2712 young people in regional Australia.
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2019 Impact Report
“We are a regional school with a high level of disadvantage through unemployment, single parent families, distance, drought affected, financial, refugee and indigenous. This opportunity was such an amazing experience. We are still so amazed that you came all the way to Shepparton!!” Teacher, Shepparton For new Company dancer, Luke Hayward, 2019’s Australian tour was a very special personal experience. “2019 was my first time touring with Sydney Dance Company and my favourite memory was performing for family and friends in Alice Springs. Many of them hadn’t seen me dance in 8 years! The opening piece was Neon Aether by Gabrielle Nankivell, which started with my solo. As soon as the lights came on, dramatically revealing me onstage, everyone in the audience gasped and started whispering, “Oh it’s Luke!”, “Is that Luke?”, “Is that the guy”, “Oh that’s the boy”, and “shhhhhh”! I went from feeling nervous, to sweaty feet and hands, and shaking. Thankfully, I shook the nerves
