4 minute read
A Year of Transformation
2020 began in dynamic style, as the Company prepared a dazzlingly energetic and diverse triple-bill of two Australian premieres and a world premiere to share with audiences in Sydney, Melbourne and later in the year, a debut performance season at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden. In January the dancers began learning E2 7SD, the virtuosic duet that launched Rafael Bonachela’s choreographic career when it was awarded first place in the inaugural, prestigious Place Prize in London in 2004. Set to a score by Oswaldo Maciá in collaboration with Santiago Posada, and with lighting design by Lee Curran, this riveting duet demands extreme flexibility and strength; witnessing the dancers of Sydney Dance Company bring it to life in the studio was an infectiously thrilling sight to behold. February saw the dancers commence work on William Forsythe’s rhythmic and witty N.N.N.N with Cyril Baldy and Ayman Harper. Appointed by Forsythe, Baldy and Harper arrived from Europe to teach the work to the Company. After gaining Forsythe’s trust in 2015 as the first company in Australia to be granted the right to perform his seminal work Quintett, Sydney Dance Company was set to be one of just six dance companies in the world to be permitted to perform N.N.N.N.; a highly prestigious honour. Alongside the rehearsal of both works was the creation of Rafael Bonachela’s new work, Impermanence. Set to a newly commissioned score by Bryce Dessner (Grammy Award-winning contemporary composer and founding member of American band, The National), the work conceptually explored the ephemeral nature of life. The Australian String Quartet - who spent some days in the Wattle Street studios performing the driving, powerful music as the dancers rehearsed - was set to accompany the dancers live on stage, amidst a stunning set design by David Fleischer and an exquisite lighting design by Damien Cooper. On the home run to opening night, the Company took up residence in the Roslyn Packer Theatre to begin technical rehearsal for the stage. All three works were ready. Final preparations were put in place, but none of these works were shared with audiences. Just a few days away from the premiere, the NSW Government issued a Public Health Order banning indoor gatherings of more than 100 people and Sydney Dance Company made the devastating but necessary decision to cancel the season amidst the escalating COVID-19 Pandemic. “We had just danced our final studio run when we learned the season was cancelled. My heart broke in that moment. As we all sat in the studio in disbelief, there was a communal understanding of the urgent poignancy of the work we had just made but would not yet get to share. Never could we have foreseen the ironic twist that the work we had so lovingly crafted was indeed impermanent all too soon.” Juliette Barton, Company dancer. Simultaneously, the public dance class program in the Ultimo Studios was cancelled. A critical source of revenue as well as a popular source of exercise for thousands of participants, public dance classes have been the backbone of Sydney Dance Company for over 30 years. In a matter of days, Sydney Dance Company’s core business was shut down: no performance, no dance classes, no public engagement, leaving a void that seemed impossible to fill. Over the next few months, the Virtual Studio kept the team occupied and customers both engaged and moving in their loungerooms across the nation. Pivot was the overused word of the year, but in the case of shifting an inherently live participatory activity and performance-based art form online, it was mostappropriate. With an eye on a return to the studio, Sydney Dance Company led the way in the dance industry in Australia in developing COVID-safe plans for class, rehearsal and ultimately performance. A hierarchy of risk identified trigger points to increase or decrease controls and with this mitigation strategy in place, classes restarted with capped attendance and the dancers returned to non-contact rehearsal in July. A rigorous program of cleaning and traffic management was implemented and a maximum of 20 attendees in each dance class were socially distanced in the marked-up studios. The middle of the year saw staff and dancers undertake a blended model of working at home and in-studio as certain aspects of operations returned to a new normal. Choreographic development of New Breed began in-studio with all four choreographers creating non-contact works, a creative reflection of the times. And work on an extension of Rafael’s Impermanence continued in the hope that it would be premiered in 2021.
As the year drew to a close, with an imminent return to the Wharf and the possibilities that presented, Sydney Dance Company launched its 2021 Australian season. After the upheaval of all that COVID-19 entailed, it would have been inconceivable in April that the year would close with live performance, a roadmap for the future and the Company intact and ready to embark on the next chapter.
