18 – 28 September
Roslyn Packer Theatre
Sydney Dance Company is based in Walsh Bay Sydney. Our studios are on the lands and over the waters of the Gadigal of the Eora Nation.
We recognise their continuing connection to the land and waters and thank them for protecting this coastline and its ecosystems since time immemorial. We pay our respects to elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations people.
I am excited to welcome you to the premiere season of Twofold; our second Sydney season in our 2024 Program. Twofold is an incredible double bill featuring the return of Rafael Bonachela’s beloved Impermanence alongside Love Lock, a new work by renowned choreographer Melanie Lane.
Following the momenta season in Sydney earlier in the year, the Company has been touring across Australia: to Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory, Western Australia and through regional New South Wales. While on tour, we were privileged to connect with a broad range of audiences. This happens through our performances on stage, and also through our education workshops, giving young people more opportunities to connect with the power of dance.
After this Sydney season finishes, our touring continues, presenting momenta in Melbourne and then returning to Brisbane with Twofold. We are delighted to finally return to Queensland’s capital after a hiatus of ten years.
I would like to recognise the ongoing support of the Australian Government delivered through Creative Australia and the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Through the unwavering commitment of our partners, supporters and those who have invested in our vision, we share the joy of amplifying voices in contemporary dance, offering high quality works to local, national and international audiences.
Thank you to everyone at Sydney Dance Company, on stage and behind the scenes, for their commitment and creativity. I would like to acknowledge and thank the Sydney Dance Company Board for their leadership and support.
Every member of Sydney Dance Company plays an important role in showcasing world class dance performances in Sydney, across Australia and the globe.
Please join us in celebrating Twofold, a season created and performed by some of Australia’s most talented artists.
Lou Oppenheim Executive Director
It is a special delight to be premiering Twofold in Sydney.
Twofold is not just a double bill. It is the presentation of the beloved with the unfamiliar. It is the return of Impermanence to Sydney, a work that premiered here, toured around the world and across Australia with incredible success. It is also the return of Melanie Lane working with the Company after the success of WOOF in 2017 and 2019. She has been creating her brand new work, Love Lock, with our dancers. We are so happy to be sharing more Impermanence and more of Melanie’s work with you.
Melanie is one of Australia’s most interesting dance voices and we are excited to have her working with us. I’ve been following her ascending career and I feel this is a great time to commission her to create new work for Sydney Dance Company.
I’m captivated by Melanie’s collaboration with Akira Isogawa, an icon in Australian fashion, whom we have worked with before. Completing the creative team with Clark’s music and Damien Cooper’s lighting design, Love Lock is a fusion of bold creativity.
On the other side of this double bill, my work Impermanence also features a stellar creative team, with music from acclaimed composer Bryce Dessner, lighting design by Damien Cooper, stage design by David Fleischer and costume design by Aleisa Jelbart.
In a nutshell, I feel jubilant about this season. A season that offers two extremely different works, showing our audiences the incredible versatility and dance mastery of the Ensemble.
This program reflects my artistic vision; creating new dance works while maintaining the unique voice of this Company, embracing excellence and showcasing Australian talent on the world stage. You are seeing Twofold first, before it goes on international tour in 2025.
Sharing these inspiring contemporary dance experiences with audiences is only possible with the ongoing commitment of our Board, partners and supporters. I truly thank you for allowing us to keep doing what we love every single day. I particularly thank the Clegg Foundation for their generous support for this season.
It fills my heart to see the dedication and passion that every artist involved in this season has brought to the creation of this double bill. All this is brought together for you, our audiences, experiencing Twofold on stage.
Rafael Bonachela Artistic Director
Impermanence 57 minutes
Interval 20 minutes
Love Lock 25 minutes
Choreography Melanie Lane
Music Clark
Set and Lighting Damien Cooper
Design
Costume Design Akira Isogawa
Melanie Lane is an Australian choreographer and performer of Javanese/European cultural heritage. She works across visual arts, theatre, music and film. Her work interrogates physical and cultural histories to explore current social mythologies and extrapolates these into surreal futures that are confounded, broken and reconfigured. These independent works have been presented globally at festivals and theatres in Europe, Indonesia, United States and Australia. Drawing on her European and Indonesian heritage Lane moves between cultural landscapes and influences.
Alongside commissions with WA Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, Australasian Dance Collective, DanceNorth, Chunky Move, Schauspiel Leipzig, National Dance Company of Wales and HAU Berlin, her collaborations extend to artists: Marrugeku/Bhenji Ra, Clark, Adena Jacobs, Amos Gebhardt, Leyla Stevens, Monica Lim and Rianto.
Her choreographic work for theatre and opera includes English National Opera’s Salome (London, 2018), Burgtheater’s Trojan Women (Vienna, 2022) and Nosferatu (Vienna, 2023), all directed by Adena Jacobs.
Melanie won the prestigious Keir Choreographic Award in 2018 and the 2017 Leipziger Bewegungskunstpreis in Germany, and has been nominated for both Green Room and Helpmann awards as both a choreographer and a dancer including the Shirley McKechnie Award for Choreography (2020).
Melanie is 2023/24 Choreographer in Residence at Chunky Move, Resident Artist at The Substation, 2015 Resident Director at Lucy Guerin Inc., Associate Artist at QL2, is a current 2023/24 Creative Australia Fellow and 24/25 Sidney Myer Fellow.
Love Lock is a work that I began dreaming about during my travels, listening to music on my headphones, getting swept up by a medley of lyrics and sound conjured by love songs from both past and present. I was fascinated by the mantra of love in songs that exists across our social fabric, a constant echo/reminder of what brings us together, connects and binds us.
It has been a joy creating Love Lock with the artists of Sydney Dance Company and with long time collaborators Clark (music), Akira Isogawa (costume) and Damien Cooper (set and lighting).
The invitation to work with the entire ensemble of artists is always an exciting opportunity that offers so much potential to harness the powerful energy of a larger group of dancers. It made me think a lot about social dances, folk dances and community dances that celebrate what it means to connect with each other through our bodies and essentially what it means to be human.
My work often creates fictional worlds to speak about our realities, so Love Lock draws from these ideas and imagines a kind of fantastical folk dance of the future, a dance that summons a collective energy and that dreams into the complex and often giddy realms of love. In an accelerated era where we navigate love both in person and in the digital space, the experience of love can be both intense and slippery. We can often find ourselves alone in a world that is saturated with the aspirations of romance, without the means to truly connect. Through the deconstruction of love songs, the most shared and prolific theme of global pop music, these iconic and catchy riffs are what embed Love Lock with its engine for connection and collective dreaming, and that insists on a dance that celebrates our hearts.
Since 2001, Clark has sculpted sound into a myriad of diverse forms. His two decades at Warp Records witnessed irradiated and ecstatic experiments in electronica, techno and rave, with equally colourful adventures in ambient, classical scores and cathartic lyrics for Deutsche Grammophon and his own Throttle Records. From St Albans, UK origins with frost encrusted vignettes on Clarence Park to unleashing kaleidoscopic live sets on the world stage, there’s neither a dull nor expected moment in the immersive musical universe Clark has constructed so far.
But how does one even shift from, say, folk-driven sound collage on albums like Iradelphic to intense, malleable jungle tracks in live shows? Clark’s leaps from crushingly industrial to subtly acoustic are framed by his wide-reaching influences and no limits approach to crafting such intricate soundscapes. Each album contains a unique thumbprint and dedicated exploration of a certain palette, manifested in flourishing melody, shimmering analog and digital texture, reshaped found sound and playful timbres created from scratch.
Twenty years on from his debut, Clark still has a voracious desire to challenge himself: his vocals are foregrounded on 2023’s Thom Yorke mentored Sus Dog, yet another elastic instrument in his repertoire. Whether learning drums for organic, eviscerating percussion on Body Riddle, or voicing his refreshingly singular songwriting on Sus Dog, Clark underlines the physicality of his everchanging sound.
A note from the Composer Melanie and I started talking about the score for Love Lock around five months ago - it’s since gone through many iterations. Although it’s not 310 bpm and composed with trance synths, that was the
initial idea. It’s ended up in quite a different place - an ever mutating, at times dense collage of recorded percussion/cello/ synthesisers/voices/flutes.
I like working on dance scores with Melanie, as you get to do things you would never normally consider for a solo record or a film score. Her choreography always surprises me. In Love Lock it reaches quite an ecstatic high. I wanted the music to reflect that.
I burrowed into a kind of controlled mania, exploring unusual microtonal shifts with what I hear as hooky ear worms, twists and turns. It’s been great being strict with the 20 minutes duration. I haven’t realised this until writing about it, but my self-pep talk has basically been ‘fill that 20-minute canvas with mad sounds but keep it coherent, with enough movement and pathos to keep it engaging’.
My work with Mel is always led by intuition, we get all the conceptual stuff out of the way early on and it soon becomes ‘does this feel right?’ If it does, I don’t tend to question it.
Damien Cooper works internationally across theatre, opera and dance. Damien’s dance credits for Sydney Dance Company include Somos, Ascent, Resound, ab [intra], Impermanence, Cinco, Ocho, Grand, Air and Other Invisible Forces, Orb and momenta. Other dance credits include Baleen for Adelaide Festival, State for Western Australian Ballet, Of Earth and Sky for Bangarra, IDK for Force Majeure, The Narrative of Nothing, Firebird and Swan Lake for Australian Ballet, Giselle for Universal Ballet, Birdbrain, Supernature, Habitus and Be Your Self for Australian Dance Theatre, The Frock for Ten Days on the Island Festival, Affinity for Tas Dance, Mortal Engine for Chunky Move and Grey Rhino for Performing Lines. Other Theatre credits include Counting & Cracking for Edinburgh International Festival/Belvoir, The Weekend, Into The Woods, Mark Colvin’s Kidney, The Great Fire, Radiance, The Glass Menagerie, Coranderrk, Miss Julie, Stories I Want to Tell You in Person, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Peter Pan, Private Lives, Conversation Piece, Strange Interlude, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Neighbourhood Watch, The Seagull, Gethsemane, Keating!, Toy Symphony, Peribanez, Stuff Happens, The Chairs, The Spook, In Our Name, The Underpants and The Ham Funeral for Belvoir; On the Beach, White Pearl, Disgraced, Orlando, Arcadia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Golden Age, Suddenly Last Summer, The Women of Troy, The Lost Echo, Riflemind and Tot Mom for Sydney Theatre Company; Macbeth and The Tempest for Bell Shakespeare; The Ring Cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Aida and Cosi Fan Tutte for Opera Australia; A Midsummer
Night’s Dream for Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera, Lyric Opera Chicago; and The Magic Flute for Lyric Opera Chicago.
For lighting design, Damien has won three Sydney Theatre Awards, four Green Room Awards, and two Australian Production Design Guild Awards.
A note from the Lighting Designer Thrilled to be returning to the stage with Melanie and Chris. Also Akira who I first worked with at Sydney Dance Company in 1999 on Air and Other Invisible Forces.
The set and lighting design for Love Lock creates a future tense space. Electronic signals connect, communicate. The lights penetrate the dance space, communicating with the other lights, interacting with the dancers. Pods of energy, incubating the next generation of future folk dance. Enjoy!
Akira Isogawa is one of Australia’s most celebrated and critically acclaimed designers.
Born in Kyoto Japan, Akira moved to Sydney in 1986 studying fashion design at the Sydney Institute of Technology.
Akira is renowned for his contemporary aesthetic, drawing inspiration from traditional Japanese design.
Debuting in 1996 at Australian Fashion Week Akira continues to present his collections to international embrace.
Akira’s powerful creative force has seen him collaborate across multiple platforms including designing costumes for the Australian Ballet and Sydney Dance Company and designing for Blunt Umbrellas and Designer Rugs, to name a few.
Akira’s work has been exhibited in institutions and galleries worldwide including the NGV, MAAS, V&A Museum London and Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk.
Twofold costumes sketches.
Choreography Rafael Bonachela
Music Composed by Bryce Dessner and co-commissioned by the Australian String Quartet, featuring ‘Another World’ by Anohni
Published by Chester Music Ltd By kind permission of the Wise Music Group
Music Performed by Australian String Quartet or Partridge String Quartet
Lighting Design Damien Cooper
Stage Design David Fleischer
Costume Design Aleisa Jelbart
Rafael Bonachela is a Choreographer, Artistic Director and Curator whose career has seen him successfully span high art and popular culture, working across a range of art forms, including contemporary dance, art installations, pop concerts, musicals, film, commercials and fashion.
Bonachela was born in La Garriga near Barcelona (1972) where he began his early dance training before moving to London to join the legendary Rambert Dance Company where he danced from 1992 to 2004.
In 2008, Rafael premiered his first fulllength production 360° for Sydney Dance Company. Less than six months later he was appointed Artistic Director, making international headlines and heralding a new era in Australian contemporary dance.
His vision for the Company embraces a guiding principle that sees commissioned dance works by Australian and international choreographers alongside his own critically acclaimed creations.
In 2022, Cartier announced Rafael as a new Friend of the Maison. From his internationally recognised talent as both a dancer and choreographer, to his commitments supporting a new generation of emerging artists and choreographers, Bonachela embodies values cherished by Cartier: strength of character, virtuosity and the ability to find beauty wherever it may lie.
Bonachela’s work is strong, sober and sharp. The exploration of pure movement is where he finds his unmistakable style. The result is an incandescent dance that springs from the power of movement, in which energy and muscle strength combine with a great emotional sensitivity.
Read more of Rafael’s biography
A note from the Choreographer
In 2020, as we were on technical rehearsal at the theatre for the original iteration of Impermanence, the curtain came down before it had ever been raised due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It took a bit more time than expected, but Impermanence finally premiered in 2021, and has been performed far and wide, across Australia and around the world since then.
Bryce Dessner and I were initially inspired to consider the ephemeral nature of life when we spent time together in Paris in 2019, shortly after the Notre Dame fire. We reflected on how easily things fall apart, even structures we imagine to be eternal, but also the fragility and impermanence of human life, the planet and human relationships. This transience, so fleeting and vulnerable is the perfect subject for live performance.
Most of the score was written towards the end of 2019 when the bushfire crisis overwhelmed Australia. Bryce was deeply affected by what he was seeing; the images of the bush on fire permeated his thinking and the work. The personal connection he felt to Australia, to Sydney, to the Company, the dancers, saw beauty germinate from desolation.
When the time of coming back to stage was approaching, I contacted Bryce to explore extending both his score and my choreography. I wanted to create a fulllength work that responded to the initial stimulus and to the shattering change to the fabric of our lives that had affected us all. Bryce’s incredible music is full of emotional power. It’s epic, driven, raw and poignant. The choreography takes its cues from these drivers inspired by the questions the music raises for me – what do we hold dear? How do we make every moment count? From devastation, what is the pathway through energy and urgency to peace and radiance?
It has been a real treat to conceive this work together, exploring the emotional drivers through both dance and music and to arriving at a place where the parts knit together so closely to make the whole. Ironically, Impermanence is a response to the unexpected but life-changing global events. For me, this encapsulates the incredible power of contemporary dance and music and how the response of the artist can truly resonate. Part of making that whole is of course the Australian String Quartet – working with them to not only realise the work for performance, but to jointly commission the score has been a joy. I want to thank the wonderful musicians of the Australian String Quartet. Their talent is breathtaking and their passion for this project inspiring.
It has been a pleasure to work again with Damien Cooper whose lighting brings so much depth to this work, with designers David Fleischer and Aleisa Jelbart, whose designs in set and costume have captured our world of Impermanence
My sincere thanks to all those who have worked on Impermanence, especially the dancers – those who were part of its inception and those who have helped bring it to life for this season. Their tenacity, passion and resilience have brought us to the stage today. I hope you enjoy every moment of Impermanence.
Bryce Dessner is a vital and rare force in new music. He has won Grammy Awards as a classical composer and with the band The National, of which he is guitarist, arranger, and co-principal song-writer. He is regularly commissioned to write for the world’s leading ensembles, from Orchestre de Paris to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and is a high-profile presence in film score composition, with upcoming films including Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo, and John Crowley’s We Live in Time starring Andrew Garfield. Over the years he has garnered great acclaim for his work on films such as Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto and for his music to Netflix’s Fernando Meirelles’s The Two Popes.
During the 2024/25 season Bryce Dessner will be Artist in Residence at the National Concert Hall, Dublin and Ars Music Festival at BOZAR, Brussels. In addition to being the creative chair of the Tonhalle Zurich last season, his many past residencies include being one of eight San Francisco Symphony Collaborative Partners, Artist-in-Residence at London’s Southbank Centre and with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Over the 2024/25 season, Dessner’s music will be performed by orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Münchner Philharmoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonie Zuidnederland.
Recent major new works include a Piano Concerto premièred by Alice Sara Ott and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in January 2024 and now being performed internationally; a Concerto for Two Pianos premièred by Katia & Marielle Labèque and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; and a Violin Concerto premièred and performed internationally by Pekka Kuusisto. Other major new works include a Trombone Concerto for Jorgen van Rijen commissioned by Dallas Symphony and l’Orchestre National d’Île de France; Voy a Dormir for mezzo soprano Kelley O’Connor and Orchestra of Saint Luke’s and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Skrik Trio for Steve Reich and Carnegie Hall; the ballet No Tomorrow co-written with Ragnar Kjartansson; Wires for Ensemble Intercontemporain; The Forest for large cello ensemble, Gautier Capuçon and Fondation Louis Vuitton; and Triptych (Eyes for One on Another), a major theatre piece integrating the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe and premiered by Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dessner also scored the music - involving full orchestra
and a 200-member choir - for the Louis Vuitton show at the Louvre in Paris as part of Paris Fashion Week 2020.
“Dessner [..] moves fluidly between rock and classical and everywhere in between.” ~ Guardian
In August 2024, Bryce Dessner released Solos (Sony Classical) which showcases his collection of solo instrument pieces in collaboration with some of the world’s leading musicians including Katia Labèque, Anastasia Kobekina, Pekka Kuusisto, Nadia Sirota, Colin Currie and Lavinia Meijer. Dessner’s recordings also include El Chan; St. Carolyn by the Sea (both on Deutsche Grammophon); Aheym, commissioned by Kronos Quartet; Tenebre, an album of his works for string orchestra recorded by Germany’s Ensemble Resonanz and which won a 2019 Opus Klassik award and a Diapason d’Or; When we are inhuman with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Eighth Blackbird (2019) and Impermanence (2021) with Australian String Quartet and which won the Libera award.
Also active as a curator, Dessner is regularly requested to programme festivals and residencies around the world at venues such as at the Barbican, Philharmonie de Paris, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and during the 2023-24 season was Creative Chair of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. He co-founded and curates the festivals MusicNOW in Cincinnati, HAVEN in Copenhagen, Sounds from a Safe Harbour and PEOPLE.
A note from the Composer Composing for dance is something that has always fascinated me. The symbiosis of music and movement, each weighted equally, is the most satisfying of collaborations for me. After meeting Rafael and the dancers when I visited Sydney in 2018 and seeing the way Rafael used three tracks from my work Aheym in Frame of Mind, I was intrigued to work
with Sydney Dance Company. Rafael and I met in Paris in the northern summer of 2019 to explore concepts for a new work. Living in Paris, I had been deeply shaken as the world-renowned NotreDame Cathedral, the beating heart of the city for over 850 years and the symbol of so much art and humanity, burned and was forever transformed. The mutability of the structures around us, both tangible and intangible, became central to my thoughts.
In the following weeks and months, a catastrophic bushfire season in Australia escalated. I was horrified to see the devastation it caused to the bushland, the wildlife and to people’s homes and livelihoods. Having regularly visited Australia, I was profoundly moved by the images of loss, destruction and panic. I was also deeply affected by the beauty that revealed itself in the aftermath –the hope and the anticipation. These events, and their impacts, fundamentally shaped the architecture of this work and became pivotal to its development. With just days before opening night, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent and the scheduled premiere was cancelled. Coming to the end of the pandemic, Rafael contacted me to explore extending my composition and the choreography, reflecting on the paradigm shift the world experienced during the pandemic and how we all have been affected.
I am delighted that Sydney Dance Company has joined forces with the Australian String Quartet to commission this work. Rafael and I both wanted to end the work with a song. My friend Anohni was delighted to collaborate with us, and I asked if we could adapt her incredibly beautiful song Another World as the closing of Impermanence. Her lyrics encapsulate perfectly everything that Rafael and I sought to achieve with this piece. “I need another place. Will there be peace? I need another world. This one’s nearly gone.”
David is a set, costume and production designer working across Australia and internationally with leading theatre, dance and opera companies.
He has worked extensively with Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Dance Company, Belvoir St Theatre, as well as Opera Australia, Sydney Chamber Opera, Pinchgut Opera among others. His works have been presented throughout the country as well as internationally. Notable recent productions include Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith and Sonia Friedman Productions), RBG; Of Many, One (Sydney Theatre Company), My Brilliant Career (Queensland Ballet) and ab[intra] (Sydney Dance Company).
The design for Impermanence is a pure, abstracted form that evolves throughout the piece. At times it functions as a wall containing the dancers, at other times, it emulates a horizon of a landscape. Later, it is a window to nature, and a curtain or blind that may close off that outside world. The set provides a context for the souls that inhabit it in this chaotic and alarming world. It is a graphic gesture that has many silhouettes.
The journey the music takes is mirrored by the movement of this single scenic element, amplified by the arresting treatments of light. The purity of the space aims to be in harmony with the clarity and distinction of the string quartet on stage.
A note from Damien Cooper, Lighting Designer
Isn’t it great to have live musicians onstage?
I do love the energy it brings. This on top of Bryce’s intense score, Rafael’s ever climaxing choreography on the full company of dancers.
Amazing! Intense! The lighting and scenic design will create a landscape for these highly energised elements to exist within.
A dose of simplicity? Purity? I often seek these elements in other aspects of my life - fashion, architecture, design. The simple and pure items always stand out. They bring balance. Enjoy.
Aleisa is a Sydney based Costume and Stage Designer, specialising in design for movement, dance and cross disciplinary performance.
She has worked with a number of Australian and international arts companies including Sydney Dance Company, The Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Bell Shakespeare, Legs on the Wall, The Australian Theatre for Young People, Singapore Ballet and the Komische Oper Berlin. Her costumes have been featured in works presented at the National Portrait Gallery, The Biennale of Sydney, The Gertrude Contemporary, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art and the TarraWarra Biennial.
Aleisa has worked extensively with Sydney Dance Company since 2014. Credits include Costume Design for Rafael Bonachela’s Impermanence 2021, Lux Tenebris 2016, Anima 2016 and Melanie Lane’s WOOF 2019. For the past ten years, Aleisa has designed the costumes and props for Sydney Dance Company’s annual New Breed program.
The costumes for Impermanence draw inspiration from Bryce Dessner’s score, conversations with Rafael and reflections on the Australian Bushfires of 2019.
I was particularly drawn to moments of hopefulness in the music and began establishing a colour palette that would bring a lightness to the work.
I deliberately avoided black, white, or any overly intense colours that might compete with the music and choreography. Instead, I chose muted hues and soft, natural tones, symbolising a sense of hope emerging from devastation - much like the rejuvenation of the Australian landscape following the bushfires.
Through the upper body I integrated a mixture of sharp lines, draped fabrics and skin. The costumes aim to evoke a sense of vulnerability and foster a deeper connection with the dancers on the stage.
Since 1985, the Australian String Quartet (ASQ) has created unforgettable string quartet performances for audiences around the world.
Dedicated to musical excellence of the highest standard, they aim to create chemistry and amplify intimacy through experiences that connect people with music.
From their home base at the University of Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium of Music, they reach out across the globe to engage people with an outstanding program of performances, workshops, commissions, digital content and education projects.
Their distinct sound is enhanced by a matched set of 18th-century Guadagnini instruments, handcrafted by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini between c.1743 and 1784 in Turin and Piacenza, Italy. These precious instruments are on loan for their exclusive use through the generosity of UKARIA.
Brisbane-born violinist, Dale Barltrop, has performed across Australia and the globe. He has been a member of the ASQ since 2016 and also served as Concertmaster of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for ten years. Prior to this, he was Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Canada and Principal Second Violin of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra in the US.
A product of the Queensland Instrumental Music Program, Dale made his solo debut with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15 and was Concertmaster of both the Queensland and Australian Youth Orchestras. Dale has also appeared as Concertmaster of the Australian World Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and guest director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra. He has studied with William Preucil, Gerald Fischbach, Elizabeth Morgan and Marcia Cox.
Francesca joined the ASQ in 2016 after being a full-time member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, a core member of the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and a founding member of the Auric Quartet.
Growing up as the second youngest of seven children in Brisbane, Francesca began learning the violin at the age of four at the Stoliarsky School of Music and from the age of nine, participated in international tours as an ensemble member and soloist, performing for Felix Andrievsky, Kurt Sassmanshaus, Paul Kantor and Dorothy DeLay.
Francesca is devoted to fostering future chamber musicians and audiences. She enjoys teaching and has tutored ensembles and violinists across Australia and internationally. Constantly refining her own theories on violin technique (an obsession inherited from her teacher William Hennessy), Francesca believes generosity and the sharing of knowledge can only strengthen our musical communities.
Dale Barltrop plays a 1784 Guadagnini Violin, Turin
Francesca Hiew plays a 1748-49 Guadagnini Violin, Piacenza
Australian violist Chris Cartlidge joined the ASQ in 2021, after ten years as a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra where he held the position of Associate Principal Viola. He regularly appears as a guest in orchestras across Australia and New Zealand and as a soloist, Chris has appeared with both the Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.
Chris studied on a full scholarship at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music where he studied with Josephine St Leon, and at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). During his studies, he was the recipient of several awards and accolades, including the University of Tasmania’s Director’s Prize, and inclusion on the University of Tasmania’s Dean’s Roll of Excellence. In 2015 he was a grand-finalist and multiple prize-winner in the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards.
Michael is an Australian cellist, conductor, and educator. His prolific career as a cellist has seen him play in a variety of different musical settings. He was Principal Cellist of Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and has been Guest Principal Cellist with Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (NZ), and Orchestra Victoria.
Michael was a founding member of the acclaimed Hamer Quartet who won First Prize, Grand Prize, and Audience Prize at the 2009 Asia-Pacific Chamber Competition. As a soloist and chamber musician, Michael has given performances at festivals and concert halls around the world. He has studied chamber music with Gerhard Schulz, Paul Katz, András Kellar, Heime Müller, Barbara Westphal, Hatto Beyerle, William Hennessy and the Artemis, Tokyo and Jerusalem Quartets amongst many others.
Chris Cartlidge plays a 1783 Guadagnini Viola, Turin
Michael Dahlenburg plays a c.1743 Guadagnini Violoncello, Piacenza, ‘Ngeringa’
The Partridge String Quartet was formed at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) in 2017 and currently comprises violinists Mana Ohashi and Jos Jonker, violist Eunise Cheng and cellist Daniel Smith. They have received national recognition as first prize winners of the inaugural 2019 Queensland International Chamber Music Competition, 2018 ANAM Chamber Music Competition and were the recipient of the Musica Viva Chamber Music Prize (2017). During their studies at ANAM, the quartet was selected as one of 10 string quartets internationally for a three-week string quartet program at the Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity in Canada. Most recently, the quartet was selected to attend the Curtis Institute of Music in June of 2022 for a string quartet course with the Dover Quartet, generously supported by the Curtis Institute of Music, the Ernest Llewllyn Memorial Trust and Musica Viva Australia. The quartet loves to engage with younger generations of musicians and have thoroughly enjoyed
residencies at both the Orange Regional Conservatorium and the Coffs Harbour Regional Conservatorium where they presented masterclasses and worked with both larger ensembles and smaller chamber groups. As Musica Viva Australia ‘FutureMakers’ (2020-2022) the quartet had the chance to learn from several luminaries of various artistic fields, culminating in two video productions of selections from George Crumb’s Black Angels released in 2023. As dynamic artists, the quartet strives to connect with their audiences through their fresh and creative performances in diverse and accessible performance spaces. They have collaborated with widely recognized Australian artists and have been guests at the Port Fairy Spring Festival (2019 and 2022) and the Canberra International Music Festival (2021) as well as concert series and projects around Australia which have been featured on the Violin Channel as well as Cutcommon, Limelight magazines and The Strad.
Daniel, a graduate of the Griffith Conservatorium of Music and Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) has had a myriad of experiences as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Having been principal cellist for the Australian Youth Orchestras for several years, Daniel received the AYO’s Peter Weiss Cello Scholarship in 2012 and was selected as co-principal cello for their 2013 international tour. Daniel regularly plays with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria, and has performed with the Tasmanian and Queensland Symphony Orchestras, Camerata, and Southern Cross Soloists. He has appeared at major national festivals like the Canberra International Music Festival, Huntington Estate Music Festival and Darwin Festival. Daniel has participated in masterclasses with renowned cellists including Nicolas Alstaedt and Li-Wei Qin and performed with international talents such as Ensemble Modern, Elision Ensemble, The Australian World Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. In 2020/2021, he was selected as one of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ‘Emerging Artists’.
Founding violist of the award-winning Partridge String Quartet and one of Musica Viva’s Futuremakers, Eunise Cheng has had a diverse career as an orchestral and chamber musician. She is the recipient of numerous scholarships and chamber music awards including the Kate Flowers Scholarship, Musica Viva Chamber Music Prize, and first prize winner of the ANAM Chamber Music Competition and Queensland International Chamber Music Competition with the quartet. Throughout her studies and career, Eunise has performed with prolific musicians including Anthony Marwood, Lawrence Power, Paul Dean and alongside musicians from the Australian Chamber Orchestra, ASQ, Ensemble Modern and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Highlights include performing at the Perth International Arts Festival ‘Quartetthaus’, Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, Huntington Estate Chamber Music Festival and a three-week international string quartet residency at the BANFF Centre in Canada. In 2022, with the Quartet she performed at the Curtis Institute of Music to study under the Dover Quartet, generously supported by the Ernest Lewellyn Memorial Trust Fund and Musica Viva Australia. Eunise is a graduate of ANAM, University of Western Australia, University of Melbourne and Queensland Conservatorium of Music.
Mana, violinist, was born and raised in Melbourne/Naarm. She studied at the ANAM for three years with Dr Robin Wilson prior to moving to Germany to study with Prof. Mi Kyung Lee at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, where she is currently completing her Bachelor studies. Mana was a 2019 Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra which saw her tour Australia with Pekka Kuusisto and was also selected to participate in the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Academy in Germany where she performed among the ensemble’s core members. Mana is a founding member of the Partridge String Quartet who were winners of both the ANAM Chamber Music Competition and the Queensland International Music Competition. As a member of the Quartet, she has traveled to the Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity in Canada and worked closely with JACK, Parker and Eybler quartets and has also been featured in the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival and Coffs Harbour Festival of Chamber Music. Mana is a current member of the Bavarian State Opera Academy in Munich, playing regularly in the orchestra as well as in chamber groups with fellow academists. Mana was an awardee of the Australian Music Foundation and the humble recipient of the Richard Pollet Memorial award in 2019.
Originally from the Netherlands, Jos began playing the violin when she was four years old. She has lived in Australia since 2021, working with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria. From October Jos will be playing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Second Violin. Before her relocation to Australia, she was a member of the Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra Academy. Jos has a broad range of orchestral experience playing with a variety of orchestras such as the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and has also worked as acting second concert master of the Philharmonisches Orchester Landestheater Coburg. As part of her education she studied under Ilya Grubert (Bachelor), Prof. Sebastian Hamann (Master) and Prof. Eberhard Feltz (string quartet). During her Bachelor and Master studies in the Netherlands and Germany Jos developed a keen passion for chamber music and is currently one of the violinists of the Partridge String Quartet. Jos plays a violin made for her in 2022 by the French luthier Patrick Robin and plays on a Sartory bow (Paris, c.1920) that she was able to purchase with the generous support of the Stichting Eigen Muziekinstrument and Ars Donandi.
Originally from the United States, Timmy completed his early training in contemporary performance and choreography at Artistic Fusion in Thornton, Colorado and Dance Town in Miami, Florida, performing works by Loni Landon, Dana Foglia and Emma Portner. He continued his training at the prestigious University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance on scholarship, graduating with a BFA in 2023. There he performed works by William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Merce Cunningham and Yin Yue.
Alongside performing, he premiered his choreography at Dance Town Miami’s annual contemporary gala of 2021 and he internationally debuted Intergenerational Traffic at the Trinity Laban School of Dance in London in February 2023 as a collaboration with composer Tom Bradbury and dancer Xavier Williams.
Timmy performed in the world premiere of Wanderers by Dimo Milev at the Nederland’s Dans Theatre Summer Intensive in August 2023. He moved to Sydney for his professional dance debut with Sydney Dance Company, performing Riley Fitzgerald’s Everyb0dy’s G0t a B0mb and Tra Mi Dinh’s Somewhere between ten & fourteen as part of New Breed 2023.
Naiara was born in Salvador, Brazil. In 2007 she began full time training with the Bolshoi Ballet School in Joinville (Brazil). Following her graduation in 2011, Naiara began working in the Young Company of Bolshoi Ballet Brazil until she was offered a position with the Salzburg Landestheater in 2013. Throughout her career Naiara has joined companies such as Leipzig Ballet (as a soloist), Konzert Theater Bern, Augsburg Ballet and Dance Company St Gallen.
She has performed a variety of classical and modern repertoire including a number of soloist and principal roles, both in Europe and further abroad. Naiara has worked with internationally renowned choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Uwe Scholz, Nadav Zelner, Martin Zimmermann, Dimo Milev, Alba Castillo, Giovanni Insaudo, Mauro Astolfi, Francesca Frassinelli and more. She joined Sydney Dance Company in 2023.
Dean Elliott
Dean was born in Auckland, New Zealand and started dancing at Norris Studios in Papakura. He moved to Sydney in 2017 to further his dance studies at Ev and Bow under the direction of Sarah Boulter and Lisa Bowmer.
In 2018 Dean received the top prize winner at the first annual Brisbane International Contemporary Dance Prix which initiated his first engagement with Sydney Dance Company. Dean joined the Theatre of Image in 2019 for their production of Brett and Wendy...A Love Story Bound by Art choreographed by Lucas Jervies and directed by Kim Carpenter, in which he danced the role of young Brett Whitely.
Dean has been a dancer with Sydney Dance Company since 2019 and has worked with and performed the repertoire of a range of choreographers, including Rafael Bonachela, Marina Mascarell, Ohad Naharin, and Melanie Lane.
Riley Fitzgerald
Riley started dancing when he was ten years old joining an all-boys hip-hop class in country Victoria. He quickly progressed to training with the Anita Coutts School of Dance, which set the tone for the years to come.
Riley moved to Melbourne where he studied for three years at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. During this time, he made his professional debut featuring in The White Prince by Stephen Agisilaou.
Riley then completed his Level 6 Diploma of Dance Performance at the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington where he trained under James O’Hara and Tor Columbus. Whilst in New Zealand he performed work by Damien Jalet and Huang Yi as part of his graduate year. Riley’s professional career took off in 2019 when he became a member of Sydney Dance Company. Whilst a member of Sydney Dance Company he performed soloist roles nationally and internationally in works such as ab [intra], Lux Tenebris, Impermanence and the critically acclaimed Six Breaths. He also performed work by Gideon Obarzanek. Following this Riley made the move to France, where he joined Ballet National de Marseille performing works by La Horde, Tania Carvalho, Oona Doherty, Lasseindra Ninja and Alexandre Roccoli, touring extensively throughout France and Europe.
Riley returned to Sydney Dance Company in 2023.
Originally from Geelong, VIC, Tayla began her dance training at Infinite Dance Studios at a young age. Tayla commenced full-time training at Patrick Studios Australia Academy in 2018 before undertaking the Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year in 2022, where she performed works by Melanie Lane, Stephanie Lake, Jenni Large, Tobiah Booth-Remmers and Rafael Bonachela.
In 2022, Tayla worked with and performed repertoire of Ohad Naharin and was a finalist in the Brisbane International Contemporary Dance Prix. Tayla has been involved in numerous movement and fashion campaigns for brands such as Last Layer, Indosole, JOSLIN and Carla Zampatti and has featured in adverts for Junior Eurovision, ABC and the Sydney Opera House.
After graduating from the Pre-Professional Year, Tayla joined Sydney Dance Company as trainee in 2024.
Having grown up in Perth, Liam has trained with a range of local schools, including Dynamic Performing Arts and The Graduate College of Dance.
At 15, Liam was accepted into the Advanced Diploma of Dance at WAAPA, being the youngest person to enter the program. Liam worked with the West Australian Ballet for five years, ending his time at the company as a Demi-Soloist, before joining Sydney Dance Company in 2019.
Liam’s repertoire is expansive and diverse, including works such as Radio and Juliet by Edward Clug, In Transit by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Les Indomptes by Claude Brumachon. These are just but a few Liam is proud to have featured in. In his spare time Liam studies a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance and Economics at The University of Western Australia.
From Alice Springs, NT, Luke studied a Bachelor of Dance at Palucca Hochechule für tanz Dresden, Germany, graduating with honours. Luke was previously a dancer with Balet Moskva, Russia from 2016 – 2018, performing in both the Ballet and Contemporary Ensembles. Luke has interned with Centre Chorégraphique National de Rillieux-la-Pape Lyon, France in 2014, Semperoper Dresden, Germany in 2014 and participated in the 5th Biennale Tanzausbildung in 2016. Luke was also part of the ensemble for Karin Ponties’ Every Direction is North, which won The Golden Mask Award for ‘The Best Performance in Modern Dance’ in 2017.
Luke has worked with and performed the repertoire of an extensive array of choreographers, including Rafael Bonachela, George Balanchine, Marina Mascarell, Melanie Lane, Ohad Naharin, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Karine Ponties, Robert Binet, Ihsan Rustem.
Luke joined Sydney Dance Company in 2019 and made his choreographic debut in New Breed 2022.
Born and raised in Mudgee NSW, Morgan began her early training at age two and attended Dance Unlimited until 2019. Focusing on her passion for contemporary dance, Morgan had numerous offers for full-time placements at age 17. She accepted an offer to attend National College of Dance in Newcastle and completed her Diploma of Dance. In 2021 Morgan moved to Sydney to study an Advanced Diploma of Dance with Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year. She was offered a trainee contract with Sydney Dance Company at the end of 2021 and her first onstage performance with the Company was in Jacopo Grabar’s work Stereotipo for New Breed 2021.
Ngaere Jenkins
Born in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Ngaere is of Te Arawa and Ngāti Kahungunu descent. She trained at the New Zealand School of Dance, graduating in 2018. During her studies, she worked with influential mentors including James O’Hara, Victoria (Tor) Colombus, Taiaroa Royal and Tanemahuta Gray. She performed works by Damien Jalet, Huang Yi, Sarah Foster-Sproull, Malia Johnston and Gabby Thomas. Ngaere represented the school as a guest artist in Tahiti at the Académie de Danse Annie FAYN fifth International Dance Festival and Singapore Ballet Academy’s 60th Anniversary Gala.
From 2019 to 2023 Ngaere worked full-time with The New Zealand Dance Company performing in Matariki for Tamariki (Sean MacDonald); This Fragile Planet (Nina Nawalowalo, Tom McCrory & Ross McCormack), What They Said (Jo Lloyd), If Never Was Now (Stephanie Lake), Sigan (Kim Jae Duk), The Fibonacci (Tor Colombus), Uku (Eddie Elliott) and Stage of Being (Xin Ji & Tupua Tigafua). She had the privilege of performing in Mana Wahine by Ōkāreka Dance Company, working with Atamira Dance Company and being immersed in rich movement amongst the dance community of Aotearoa. In 2023 Ngaere was the recipient of the Bill Sheats Dance Award. Ngaere joined Sydney Dance Company in October 2023, debuting in the tenth anniversary season of New Breed.
Sophie Jones
Sophie grew up in Angourie, NSW and trained with Adele Lewis School of Dance. At age 14 she moved to Burleigh Heads, Queensland to begin full time ballet training and further her studies with Prudence Bowen Atelier. After extensive years of training she received a traineeship with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago and moved overseas. Whilst in Chicago she worked with numerous choreographers and performed Études by Harald Lander, and George Balanchine’s Serenade
After discovering an interest in contemporary dance, Sophie completed her diploma and advanced diploma with Sydney Dance Company Pre-Professional Year in 2020 and 2021. She had the opportunity to perform works by Holly Doyle, Omer Backley-Astrachan, Jessica Goodfellow and Rafael Bonchela.
Sophie joined Sydney Dance Company as a trainee in January 2022, supported by the David and Fee Hancock Foundation.
Connor McMahon
Connor began training at Planetdance in Sydney and continued his contemporary dance training at Ev & Bow, receiving his Diploma of Dance in 2021. During his final year, Connor made his musical theatre debut as Baby John in Opera Australia/ GWB Entertainment’s production of West Side Story in Perth, continuing onto the national tour around Australia.
Since graduating, Connor has performed in Sydney Choreographic Centre’s production Galileo with Francesco Ventriglia. He joined Sydney Dance Company in July 2022.
Ryan Pearson
Ryan is of Biripi and Worimi descent on his mother’s side and Minang, Goreng and Balardung on his father’s side. He was born and raised in Taree, NSW.
He began his dance training at NAISDA at age 16, after taking part in the NSW Public Schools’ Aboriginal Dance Company, facilitated by Bangarra’s Youth Program Team in 2012. During his time at NAISDA, Ryan learnt from a number of renowned teachers and choreographers. One of Ryan’s highlights during his training at NAISDA was attending a six-week Professional Division Summer Intensive at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York City.
He joined Bangarra Dance Theatre in 2017 as part of the Russell Page Graduate Program. Bennelong in 2017 was his debut season with Bangarra and he has since performed the past seven years throughout Australia and internationally with the company, led by renowned storytellers Stephen Page and Frances Rings.
Ryan was nominated in the 2020 Australian Dance Awards for Most Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer for his performance in Jiri Kylian’s Stamping Ground (2019 Production, 30 years of sixtyfive thousand). In 2023, Ryan presented his first choreographic work, 5 Minute Call as part of Dance Clan. He joined Sydney Dance Company in January 2024.
Piran Scott
Born in Mackay, QLD, Piran trained under Lynette Denny AM at Theatre Arts Mackay. He completed the Professional Year program with the Queensland Ballet, before joining the company as a full member in 2010, under the artistic direction of Francois Klaus. In 2013, Piran received a soloist position with the Leipzig Ballet in Germany under Mario Schroeder.
After Leipzig, Piran was a soloist with the Ballet Theater Basel in Switzerland, directed by Richard Wherlock, followed by successful seasons with the Dance Company St. Gallen under Kinsun Chan, where he was awarded Dancer of the Year 2022 in tanz magazine Europe.
Piran has been a professional dancer for over ten years, performing in classical and contemporary works by renowned choreographers such as Ohad Naharin, Alexander Ekman, Sharon Eyal, Johann Inger, Ivan Perez, Nils Christie, Thierry Malandain, Natalie Weir, Dimo Milev, Uwe Scholz, Mauro Astolfi, Francesca Frassinelli, Nadav Zelner, Martin Zimmerman and Alba Castillo.
Piran joined Sydney Dance Company in 2023, appearing in Rafael Bonachela’s critically acclaimed Somos and I Amness alongside Forever & Ever by Antony Hamilton at Sydney Opera House.
Born and raised in Sydney, Emily embarked on her dance journey at the prestigious All Starz Performing Arts Studio and completed her full time training under the direction of Tanya Pearson OAM before joining the Houston Ballet Company and later the West Australian Ballet.
Throughout her career, Emily has had the privilege of performing repertoire by renowned choreographers such as Rafael Bonachela, Marina Mascarell, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, Alexander Ekman, Annabelle Lopez Ochea, Melanie Lane, Antony Hamilton, Stanton Welch, George Balanchine and John Neumeier.
In February 2018 Emily joined the Sydney Dance Company, debuting at the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris. Since then, Emily has been an integral part of the Company, showcasing her talent across Australia and internationally.
With a commitment to excellence and a passion for the art of dance, Emily continues to make a significant impact on the world stage, leaving an indelible mark on the realms of ballet and contemporary dance.
Mia was born in Queensland and started her dance training at the age of four with the Yvonne Brittain Dance Academy. Mia started full time training at the Queensland Dance School of Excellence and graduated in 2009. She went on to join Queensland Ballet’s Pre-Professional year in 2010 where she performed alongside the company in many productions.
In 2011, Mia joined West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). During her time at WAAPA Mia performed for Queen Elizabeth II at the 2011 Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
After completing two years at WAAPA Mia accepted a job with Queensland Ballet under the directorship of Li Cunxin. Some career highlights at Queensland Ballet include Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo & Juliet, Nils Christe’s Short Dialogues (performed at the International Dance Salad Festival in Houston) and George Balanchine’s Serenade.
After three years at Queensland Ballet Mia joined Scottish Ballet in 2016 and was promoted to First Artist in 2018. Some or her highlights include Crystal Pite’s Emergence, Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Le Baiser de la Fée (performed on the Royal Opera House stage) and Peter Darrel’s The Nutcracker
Mia joined Sydney Dance Company in January 2019.
Born in Ballarat, VIC, Coco started training at the Kerry Moore School of Ballet.
In 2015 she was accepted into the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School where she won the Contemporary Dance Award for her graduation year. While at VCASS she performed in many works, notably Tim Harbours’s contemporary work Romeo and Juliet and Jonathon Taylor’s Summers End. At the end of Year 12, Coco auditioned and was accepted straight into third year of the Bachelor (Hons) Degree at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London. After graduation she joined the Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year engaging in works by Holly Doyle, Jessica Goodfellow, Omer BackleyAstrachan and Rafael Bonachela.
In 2021 she joined the Company as trainee and performed in New Breed 2021. In 2022, Coco performed in Rafael Bonachela’s ab [intra], during the much anticipated French International Tour. She has since performed in Rafael Bonachela’s Impermanence, Stephanie Lake’s The Universe is Here, Rafael Bonachela’s Ocho and Antony Hamilton’s Forever & Ever.
Chloe graduated from Queensland National Ballet’s Advanced Diploma in Elite Performance in 2016. She appeared as special guest artist at the Alana Haines Australian Awards (2017) and the Press Freedom Dinner (2017), with Queensland National Ballet as Alice in Alice in Wonderland, as a soloist in Mulan, and Phyrgia in Spartacus. She has performed with Queensland Symphonic Orchestra in Firebird Spartacus and Danzon. In 2017 Chloe graduated from Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year and joined the Company as trainee in 2018. Chloe’s first onstage performance with the Company was in Rafael Bonachela’s award-winning works Frame Of Mind and Lux Tenebris during the Company’s 2018 South America Tour to Chile and Colombia. She has since performed in Gabrielle Nankivell’s Wildebeest, Anthony Hamilton’s Forever & Ever in 2018 and 2023, Melanie Lane’s WOOF, and Bonachela’s Cinco as well as award-winning ab [intra] in 2019.
Richard Cilli combines his expertise as a dancer with his passion for coaching, culture and excellence as Sydney Dance Company’s Rehearsal Director. In this role he enjoys holding space for many talented and dedicated artists at the top of their game to keep developing their craft. As a dancer Richard won the prestigious Helpmann Award for Best Male Dancer in 2010 for his performance in Rafael Bonachela’s We Unfold, and was also the winner of the Australian Ballet’s 50th Anniversary Ballet Competition in 2012.
Throughout his performing career, Richard has interpreted the work of an impressive array of choreographers, including Rafael Bonachela, Lloyd Newson, Stephanie Lake, William Forsythe, Anouk van Dijk, Jacopo Godani, Lucy Guerin, Gideon Obarzanek, Alexander Ekman, Adam Linder, Emanuel Gat and Kenneth Kvarnström. Beyond his years as a dancer at Sydney Dance Company, Richard has performed with renowned companies such as Rambert (UK), Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin Inc, Australasian Dance Collective, Dancenorth, and K.Kvarnström & Co (Sweden).
Born on Whadjuk Noongar country (Perth), Richard trained at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and Taipei National University of the Arts (國立臺北藝術大學). He also studied Arts and Cultural Management at Deakin University.
As a choreographer he has created work for Sydney Dance Company and the PreProfessional Year, The Australian Ballet, LINK Dance Company and WAAPA, as well as various independently produced works.
A certified Countertechnique teacher, Richard has taught at institutions around Australia and the world, including the One Body, One Career intensive in at Springboard Dance Montreal. Richard has served as a board member for Create NSW’s Dance and Physical Theatre art form since 2022.
Charmene Yap is a multi awardwinning dancer, Rehearsal Director and choreographer. She is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and Purchase College New York.
Charmene’s performing career included dancing with companies Chunky Move, Tasdance, Dancenorth, Lucy Guerin Inc., Armitage Gone! Dance Company and working with acclaimed choreographers including Gideon Obarzanek, Lucy Guerin, Antony Hamilton and the late Tanja Liedtke. She also featured in various short films and music clips including Del Kathryn Barton’s Red and Katie Noonan’s Quicksand
Joining Sydney Dance Company as a dancer in 2010, Charmene spent a decade performing the majority of works by Rafael Bonachela, and other Australian and international choreographers including William Forsythe, Alexander Ekman, Jacopo Godani, Stephanie Lake and Melanie Lane. She won numerous awards including the Helpmann Award for Best Female Dancer in 2012 and 2014 and the Australian Dance Award in 2013.
As a choreographer, Charmene has created for stage, short films, music clips and fashion shows. This includes Grey Rhino with co-choreographer Cass Mortimer Eipper, which premiered in Sydney Festival 2022. She has choreographed works Do We, Drunk Tank Pink and Cymatics which have been performed by Sydney Dance Company and the Pre-Professional Year and Co3 Company in Perth. Charmene was
Assistant Choreographer for Gideon Obarzanek’s Us 50 which celebrated Sydney Dance Company’s 50th Anniversary. Charmene’s choreographic collaborations span to other artforms including movement director for Belvoir St Theatre’s Tell Me I’m Here, runway choreography for fashion designer Bianca Spender and site-specific works with visual artist Lauren Brincat.
In September 2019, Charmene was appointed Sydney Dance Company’s inaugural Rehearsal Associate, supported by the Nelson Meers Foundation and Sydney Dance Company’s Dancers’ Circle, working with the company’s artistic and education departments.
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Board of Directors
Ann Johnson (Chair)
David Craig (Deputy Chair)
Anita Belgiorno-Nettis AM
Brooke Boney
Sarah Constable
Mark Coulter
Anne Dunn
Heather Mitchell AM
Kate Mulvany OAM
David Paradice AO
Annette Shun Wah
Kip Williams
Senior Producer
Ben White
Venue Manager
Ben Stern
Venue and Event Specialist
Kendra Murphy
Head of Technical Operations
Andrew Richards
Building Services Manager
Barry Carr
Box Office Manager
Dominic Scarf
Staging Manager
Chris Fleming
Staging supervisors
Liam Kennedy
Fly Supervisor
Bernard Gourlay
Sound and Video Manager
Ben Lightowlers
Sound and Video Supervisor
David Trumpmanis
Lighting Manager
Andrew Tompkins
Lighting Supervisor
Amy Robertson
Floor Lighting
Andrew Williams
Board
Hayley Baillie
Sheena Boughen OAM—Chair
Alexandra Burt
Bruce Cooper—Deputy Chair
John Evans
Janet Hayes
Susan Renouf
Suzanne Stark
ASQ Patron
Maria Myers AC
ASQ Life Member
Jeanette Sandford-Morgan OAM
ASQ Artistic Directors
Artistic Director | Violin
Dale Barltrop
Artistic Director | Violin
Francesca Hiew
Artistic Director | Viola
Chris Cartlidge
Artistic Director | Cello
Michael Dahlenburg
ASQ Management
CRM & Executive Liaison
Kate Duthy
Operations Manager
Sophie Emery
Executive Assistant
Alison Growden
Creative Producer
Samuel Jozeps
Finance Manager
Kannitha Lay
Marketing & Communications Manager
Kane Moroney
Accounts
Leigh Milne
Development Manager
Michelle Richards
Chief Executive
Angelina Zucco
Board of Directors
Emma-Jane Newton (Chair)
Prof Larissa Behrendt AO
Jillian Broadbent AC
Michael Dagostino
David Friedlander
Emma Gray
Andrew Hagger
Alexa Haslingden
Mark Hassell
Sandra McCullagh
Paris Neilson
Bianca Spender
International Patron
Dame Darcey Bussell DBE
Ambassadors’ Council
Sarah Myer (Chair), Victoria Balnaves, Pam Bartlett, Judy Crawford, Jaycen Fletcher, Mandy Foley, Bradford Gorman, The Hon. Don Harwin, Kellie Hush, Samuel Joyce, Alexandra Knights, Skye Leckie OAM, Amelia Liveris, Jules Maxwell, Andrew Muston, Rebel Penfold-Russell OAM, Peter Reeve, Ruth Ritchie, Keinwen Shephard, Stephen Thatcher, Bee Wood, Adam Worling, Susan Wynne, Mary Zuber.
Dance Noir Committee
Mandy Foley (Co-Chair), Peter Reeve (Co-Chair), Fuzz Ali, Sally Burleigh, Jane Clifford, Debbie Coffey, Irene Deutsch, Georgie Fergusson, Alexa Haslingden, Sarah Myer, Paris Neilson, Mim Stacey, Stephen Thatcher and Michelle Walsh.
Artistic Director
Rafael Bonachela
Executive Director
Lou Oppenheim
Executive Assistant
Amy Burrows
Director Programming
Brendan O’Connell
Senior Producer
Dominic Chang
Associate Producer - Ensemble
Kerry Thampapillai
Associate Producer - Wharf
Michael Sieders
Chief Financial Officer
Sean Radcliffe
Accountant
Melissa Sim
Payroll Assistant
Carina Mision
Director Training and Education
Polly Brett
Head of Open Programs & Learning
Samantha Dashwood
Dance Class Manager
Ramon Doringo
Learning Manager
Justine Turner
Learning Coordinator
Jacqueline Cooper
Learning Administrator
Eugenie English
Head of Training
Linda Gamblin
Pre-Professional Year Course Coordinator
Tobiah Booth-Remmers
Training Associate
Juliette Barton
Learning Associate
Lexy Panetta
Conditioning Studio Manager
Felicity McGee
Customer Experience and Venue Manager
Sue Nielsen
Customer Service Assistant
Mardi Downing
Director Philanthropy and Partnerships
Fiona Crockett
Head of Philanthropy
Katharine Seymour
Philanthropy Manager
Lachlan Bell
Trusts and Foundations Manager
Madeleine White (parental leave)
Philanthropy and Partnerships Coordinator
Bianca Mulet
Partnerships and Events Coordinator
Jasmine Cook
Director Market Development
Olivia Blackburn
Head
Thida
Ticketing
Marketing
Marketing
Resident
Technical
Production
We would like to thank all our Partners for their generous support and acknowledge those who have given anonymously. Our Partners make it possible for us to create and present new work, inspire future generations of artists and audiences, extend our reach and plan for the future. We couldn’t do it without you!
If you would like more information about joining our family, please contact our Philanthropy Team on 02 9258 4882 or email philanthropy@ sydneydancecompany.com
A special thank you to our Platinum Partners for their enduring commitment and passion for Sydney Dance Company.
The late Robert Albert AO & Elizabeth Albert
The Balnaves Foundation
Jane & Andrew Clifford
Crown Resorts Foundation
Julian Knights AO & Lizanne Knights
Jules Maxwell
Andrew Messenger
Naomi Milgrom AC
Naomi Milgrom Foundation
The Neilson Foundation
Judith Neilson AM
Packer Family Foundation
Gretel Packer AM
Thyne Reid Foundation
The Wales Family Foundation
Carla Zampatti Foundation
Mary Zuber
Visionary Patron
Brett Clegg
Take A Step & Take A Seat Campaigns
We would like to thank our Take A Step and Take A Seat supporters, who enabled the transformation of our Walsh Bay Arts Precinct home.
Take a Step
NSW Government
The Neilson Foundation
The Wales Family
Jane & Andrew Clifford
Catriona Mordant AM & Simon Mordant AO
The late Carla Zampatti AC
Brett Clegg & Annabel Hepworth
Julian Knights AO & Lizanne Knights
Pam & Doug Bartlett
Kiera Grant & Mark Tallis
The Alexandra & Lloyd Martin Family Foundation
Karen Moses
Emma-Jane Newton & Chris Paxton
Thyne Reid Foundation
Mary Zuber
Paul Brady & Christine Yip
Alexa & David Haslingden
Jane & Richard Freudenstein
Mark Hassell
The late Carina Martin
In memory of Nora McCullagh
David Mathlin & Camilla Drover
Ezekiel Solomon AM
Judi Wolf & Alden Toevs
Rafael Bonachela & Joe Lawler
Michelle & Logan Boyle
Jillian Broadbent AC & Olev Rahn
Peter & Liz Brownie
Tony Burke & the late Janice Burke
Benjamin Cisterne
Debbie Coffee
Alexandra Considine
Jade & Richard Coppleson
Chum Darvall AM
Anne Dunn & Patricia Buick
Donna & Carl Jackson
Tina & Mark Johnson
Longreach Ownership Trust
Michael Lynch
& the late Chrissy Sharp
Macquarie Group Foundation
Rohan Morris
Lizzi Nicoll
Nick Read
Peter Reeve & Jaycen Fletcher
Leslie Stern
Victoria Taylor
Susan Wynne
Take a Seat
The late Robert Albert AO & Elizabeth Albert
David Baxby
Selina Baxby
Jillian Broadbent AC
Todd Buncombe
Livinia Clegg
Janine Collins
Desmon Du Plessis & David Jonas
Anne Dunn & Patricia Buick
In memory of Katherine Kar
Lum Fan
Deborah & David Friedlander
Margaret Gibbs
Andy Grant Poppy Mallett
In memory of Nora McCullagh
Karen Moses
Paris Neilson
India Neville Lizzi Nicoll
Emma-Jane Newton
Chris Paxton
Tim Rahn
Nick Read
Victoria & Peter Shorthouse
Catherine Smithson
Ruth & Bruce Smithson
Noel Staunton
In loving memory of Ian Wallace
To celebrate our milestone 50th anniversary in 2019, we were proud to establish the Dancers’ Circle, which directly supports the growth and development of our ensemble of dancers, enabling pathways for their time with the Company and beyond.
Patron: Julian Knights AO
Brett
Pip
2024 Accessibility Partner
2024 Carla Zampatti Commissioning Fund
With
Pam
Paul
Belinda
2024 Training Associate
2024 Company Traineeship The Wales Family Foundation
2024 Early Careers Artists The Wales Family Foundation
2024 Pre-Professional Year
The Wales
Penelope
2024 Touring Fund
Performance Partners ($20,000 - $50,000)
Jillian Broadbent AC & Olev Rahn
Andrew & Emma Gray
Alexa & David Haslingden Susan Maple-Brown AM & the late Robert Maple-Brown AO
Studio Partners ($10,000+)
Kathryn Greiner AO
John Griffiths & Beth Jackson
Lou Oppenheim
Anonymous (4)
Duet Partners ($5,000+) John Kaldor AO
The Berg Family Foundation
Cameron AM & Cathy Cameron
& Lisa Droga
Hollings in memory of Erin Ostadal
Lowes
Mathlin & Camilla Drover Karen Moses Paris Neilson & Todd Buncombe
The Sid & Fiona Myer Family Foundation
Rachel Parratt & Brett Lunn
Catherine Parr & Paul Hattaway Jonathon Pearce
Government Partners
NEW BREED Principal Partner
Trusts & Foundations
Company Partners
Associate Partners
Supporters
Tattersalls Club, Stedmans, Heaps Normal
