A Dark Theatre

The idea of Impermanence came about in conversation with Bryce Dessner in July 2019 in Paris. In 2015 I had choreographed Frame of Mind to Aheym, one of his existing scores. I adored creating it, and the result was a very powerful work which audiences and critics all enjoyed. Bryce saw a run through of the work in 2018. He came to the studio to meet me and the dancers when he was in Sydney performing with his band The National. I was so nervous for him to see it, but he loved it, and in that moment, we knew there was more we could do together. The idea of Dessner composing a score for the Company was enticing and I was keen that the music was performed live on stage. Sydney Dance Company had worked with Australian String Quartet for the revival of Frame of Mind in 2018. Dessner’s driving, passionate music played live on stage was incredible and the ASQ was also keen to be part of a new project. Together we commissioned Dessner to write a new score, and Impermanence was born. The title of the work reflects on the ephemeral nature of life. I met Bryce in Paris, where he lives, shortly after the Notre Dame fire. He shared thoughts he’d been having about how easily things fall apart, even structures we imagine to be eternal, and we talked about the fragility and impermanence of human life, the planet and human relationships. In November 2019, Bryce was deep in the process of writing the music when the bush fires in Australia reached catastrophic levels. Images were beamed across the world, and he was deeply affected by what he was seeing on TV. The images of the Australian bush on fire really entered the work and his thinking. He was profoundly moved; he had been here, he had met the dancers and there was a very real personal connection for him. The philosophical concept of change made me think on the ephemeral, the fleeting, things that exist only in a moment and are then transformed. For me personally, the awareness of the impermanence of everything makes me feel that we must use every moment - that every moment counts – and that the transitory nature of life inspires a need for energy, urgency and radiance. In fact, the perfect subject for contemporary dance. Having to cancel the season days before opening was heart-breaking, but it made me believe even more deeply in the importance and relevance of the work. Over the bleak, early months of the pandemic, I began to consider how it could be extended into a fulllength performance. I approached Dessner to establish his interest and I was delighted that he accepted the extended commission. Over the last few months of 2020, he composed the remainder of the score, an incredibly exciting outcome after such a strange and difficult time. As I write this now, the full-length work Impermanence has enjoyed its world-premiere season in Sydney, has been performed at the Adelaide Festival and is about to tour to Melbourne and regional Australia. A year ago, it seemed inconceivable that this work would ever make it to the stage. In fact the future of live performance was doubtful. As an artist, to see the response of audiences of all ages to this work has been life-affirming. To collaborate with the exceptional, virtuosic musicians of the ASQ in this work was incredible and I am so grateful for their shared vision and passion for the work. In the short days that ASQ spent in Sydney in March 2020, they were able to record a master of the score before lockdown began, and this was released under the title Impermanence/ Disintegration in April 2021. The power and value of the arts, of music, of dance, of creativity culminating in the communion of artist and audience have never been more important than they are now and I am so happy that after the incredible challenges 2020 presented all of us that Impermanence in all its permutations has been, and will be, enjoyed across the word.

Rafael Bonachela, Artistic DIrector