Artistic Director’s Report

When 2020 began, after the joy and celebration of our 50th anniversary year in 2019, we had no idea what lay ahead of us. The best of times, the worst of times and a year that we will never forget. In the studios in the first few months of the year, the dancers and I were buoyant as we created and rehearsed what was to be my newest work, Impermanence; excited to be working with the Australian String Quartet, to have the privilege of a new commissioned score from the world-renowned Bryce Dessner and to be preparing a triple-bill season for the enjoyment of audiences across Australia. By early March, as global events unfolded with rapid speed, I have never been more proud of how my colleagues and our community responded. The circumstances in which we found ourselves were unprecedented, but with flair and courage, Sydney Dance Company adapted as the world tilted on its axis. For 11 months, theatres were dark, and for many months, like everyone across the world, our artists were confined to their homes. For a performing arts company, these were the strangest situations to find ourselves in. The disappointment of cancelling Seasons One and Two, our national and international tours and our Australian schools’ engagement program was crushing. But from what could have been disaster, creativity blossomed. Since March 2020, we have all shared our lives through digital screens. These windows into our own personal experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic have, for so many, been the difference between connection and isolation. Sydney Dance Company was determined to stay connected to our community during COVID-19. Ours is a very physical art form, but social distancing did not stand in the way of participation, performance and engagement. Our Virtual Studio, born a matter of days after the physical studios were abruptly closed, saw over 68,000 attendances across the country between March and December. Dancers of all ages stretched, leapt and felt great as they took class on Zoom in loungerooms and gardens. I was heartened by the incredible feedback we received from our Virtual Studio attendees and so pleased that we were able to make a genuine difference to peoples’ lives during such difficult times. After the first few weeks of lockdown, our creative spark was reignited and I was delighted to choreograph our first film project of 2020, Cuatro, a collaboration with musicians of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Initially planned for the lounge rooms of the musicians and dancers, when it came time to start filming, restrictions had lifted slightly, and we were able to film all eight artists, one at a time, in our Wattle Street studios. It was so inspiring to create this unique response to COVID-19 with such virtuosic talent, and to make work again. Our human reaction to confinement and yearning for the great outdoors was the impetus behind Dance Locale, a series of five films created in collaboration with the NSW Government’s Festival Of Place. Celebrating and exploring the outstanding public spaces in Greater Sydney and Wagga Wagga, Dance Locale was an exhilarating project to undertake for me and the dancers, exceptionally well received by all those who watched across the world. None of us will ever again take for granted our relationship to the beauty of our surroundings. I have always been passionate about Sydney Dance Company’s work with young dancers, schools and emerging dance talent and as COVID-19 descended, it seemed impossible to continue to make those connections. However, the inventiveness, resilience and determination of Australia’s young dancers is to be commended! Students in areas of Australia we would never previously reached with our regional tour took part in our Virtual Season For Schools. Our Pre-Professional Year students endured a year of disruption with incredible grace and as well as making numerous dance films and completing their Diploma and Advanced Diploma studies, ended the year with two live performances at Carriageworks, with PPY20 Revealed. The future of dance in Australia is in good hands! The dancers returned to non-contact rehearsal in July and as the weeks progressed the prospect of finally returning to a physical theatre space to perform for audiences seemed possible. Almost a full year since

our last curtain call in December 2019, New Breed took to the stage in partnership with The Balnaves Foundation and Carriageworks in late November. In the early months of the pandemic, this seemed like a pipe dream; the four emerging choreographers created socially distanced, non-contact choreography for a new era, a true creative response to everything the world had been through. I am so incredibly grateful for the support of our community this year. The generosity, encouragement and passion for who we are and what we do have never been felt so strongly. I have been profoundly moved by this support. At the heart of everything that is Sydney Dance Company is the dancers and I am proud of them all. All at the top of their game, they rose to numerous challenges this year and exceeded my expectations. From social media management to video editing and online teaching, they dealt with re-deployment within the organisation with aplomb and discovered skills and confidence in roles away from the stage. I acknowledge the determination and skill of the Sydney Dance Company Board and Executive Director Anne Dunn, whose herculean efforts to keep the Company together continue to be rewarded by the passion and loyalty of the dancers and staff. The role that the arts play in our lives became very apparent in 2020; dance, music and creativity have power and impact, bring us together and help us feel alive. This is made more poignant as we mourn the passing of our wonderful Board Director and my dear friend, Carla Zampatti AC. Carla’s generosity in hosting dinners in support of the commissioning of my work since 2013 has been incredible. I am deeply honoured to have known her: her passion for contemporary dance, her exquisite taste for truth in beauty and her personal guidance and counsel have been invaluable to me. I shall miss her enormously and she will always be a light, blazing in our Sydney Dance Company firmament. It has been a privilege to lead the artistic vision of this Company across the last 12 months and as we settle into our newly refurbished studios in 2021, I look forward to transforming lives through dance for years to come.

Rafael Bonachela, Artistic Director