Investing

With 25% of our income raised through philanthropic support from individuals and foundations, the generosity of Sydney Dance Company’s Partners has a huge impact on our capacity to deliver exceptional contemporary dance experiences. Donations through our annual Partner Program and other targeted funds enable us to create and commission new work – the very essence of the Company – share this work on tour across Australia and around the world, and invest in the future of our artform through education, outreach and training opportunities for young, aspiring dancers.

• Commission and present new work to inspire and challenge our artists and audiences. This included

Impermanence, a collaboration of live music and dance between two outstanding Australian performing arts companies performed on stage, and Years, recorded with live music, created during lockdown and streamed globally for free.

• Extend our reach through a national tour of

Impermanence and global streaming of Years.

Although we were unable to travel physically for much of the year, we were able to maintain a national and global presence.

• Build capacity through our Rehearsal Associate and

Training Associate roles to support the professional ensemble, our Pre-Professional Year cohort and other advanced training programs. These positions provide a professional development and career opportunity beyond the stage for retiring dancers.

• Inspire the audiences of the future through education and outreach activities in metro and regional areas. Our Virtual Season for Schools, an online workshop series, enabled us to continue to engage with the youngest members of our dance community across the country, removing geographical barriers and inspiring dance experiences. • Nurture the dancers of the future by providing training opportunities for aspiring professional dancers (four PPY scholarships, one Fulltime Traineeship with the Company and PPY secondments to work with the ensemble during key rehearsal and performance periods).

• Support professional development opportunities for emerging and mid-career independent dance makers, to create and present their work to audiences, presenters, programmers and our industry network. These opportunities included on-stage seasons New Breed (working with the professional ensemble) and PPY21 Revealed (working with PPY Years 1 and 2), as well as digital creations.

• Support our dancers to perform at their peak through a framework of artistic and physical and mental health support.

• Complete the final stages of our Wharf Studios refurbishment project, as part of the Walsh Bay

Arts Precinct. As well as receiving gifts through our

Take a Step campaign, we also launched our Take a Seat campaign, aligned to our new theatre space,

Studio 5: Neilson Studio.

• Our mainstage audiences, experiencing the much-anticipated world premiere season of Rafael

Bonachela’s Impermanence at the Roslyn Packer

Theatre Walsh Bay and as part of Adelaide Festival.

• Our New Breed audiences, experiencing a diverse range of Australian choreographic voices and new artistic concepts from emerging and mid-career dance makers.

• Our PPY21 Revealed audiences, witnessing the next generation of dance artists on the cusp of their professional careers, performing new work by independent dance makers and repertoire by Rafael

Bonachela.

• People of all ages in regional communities across

Australia, who engaged with Sydney Dance

Company in person (on tour to regional Victoria and some locations in New South Wales before lockdown began in June) or virtually through our online workshops.

• Global audiences, streaming Rafael Bonachela’s

Years for free in 40 countries.

• Young people who engaged with our range of education and outreach activities, discovering dance, forging connections and exploring selfexpression through creativity for the first time. • Our artists, who continue to be challenged and inspired and who are supported to perform at their peak by artistic, physical and mental health professionals (Rehearsal Director, Rehearsal

Associate, GP, physio, in-house Pilates instructor and psychologist) and who create and rehearse in world-class facilities.

• The next generation of dance makers, commissioned to create and present work as part of our New Breed season with Company dancers, supported by our artistic, production and administration teams.

• The PPY graduate who was offered a full-time traineeship with the professional ensemble, a lifechanging career opportunity.

• The young aspiring dancers who received fee scholarship support to complete a year of our Pre-

Professional Year program, an intensive professional and personal development opportunity preparing them for a career in dance.

• The graduating PPY Dancers who were able to perform in their graduation show, PPY21 Revealed, a significant assessment requirement for the Diploma/

Advanced Diploma in dance, and, for most, their first professional performance.