SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY IN IMPERMANENCE

 

SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY

IMPERMANENCE

ROSLYN PACKER THEATRE   FEBRUARY 2021

 


This is the first time Sydney Dance has been able to perform live since Covid hit last year. Bonachela has expanded the work which has developed into a full length piece .  

It attempts to express the human spirit , of coping with destruction and beauty , 2019 and 2020 and bushfires , flood , the Paris fire that horrendously damaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and Covid and how hardship at makes us focus on ‘ living in the moment ‘ .

Bonachela’s demanding choreography demands high octane energy and supple fluidness from his dancers .

Solos , duets and ensemble work is at times highly synchronized and precise , at other times intimate and enfolding .At  certain points the stage is explosively full of tumbling , whirling dancers or they are writhing in sculptural groups , or slipping and sliding in slithery floorwork . Some of the solos are breathtaking and extraordinary showcases of both Bonachela’s and the performers talent. Ballet technique is blended with contemporary , including sautes and arabesques - there are some very difficult lifts , and some beautifully performed high , twisting jumps as well as some textbook examples of magnificent lofty pas de chats  too. There are male and female duets , a fast and furious quintet with flying jumps,  Juliette Barton and Davide di Giovanni dance a slippery major duet , while Dean Elliott , Jesse Scales , Emily Seymour and Chloe Young were also featured. Liam Green closes the show with a haunting powerful solo

David Fleischer’s rather abstract set design is stark and simple , a horizontal  black bar across the back of the stage which lifts and expands to become a projection screen ( of raindrops ? or Corona virus ?) .The lighting design by Damien Cooper is most atmospheric with a dramatic red wash , or orange , for example , also including effective use of silhouettes and stark clear bright white lighting .

Bryce Dessner – perhaps best known as one of the founders of rock band The National and for his film scores for The Revenant and The Two Popes has created a relentless and driving  score, in some ways the force behind the choreography .At times it was fast , sharp and spiky, at others more mellow.It was fabulous to see the wonderful Australian String Quartet live on stage giving an intense , impassioned performance . In parts , throbbing spiky  pulsating notes fracture like stabbing bites of sound with scurrying bowing while at other times it flows ebbs and surges .Soaring violin is contrasted with deep cello rumbles and there are possible references to country music and that of the Baroque. 

Aleisa Jelbart’s costumes are deceptively basic but fluidly functional  – very revealing shorts with individually designed tops in a variety of subdued tones  - representing the land ?  We can therefore see every movement by the dancers while also emphasisizing their strength ,fragility and  endurance .

A relentless , hypnotic performance  .


Sydney Dance Company in Impermanence runs at the Roslyn Packer Theatre 16-27 February with a national  tour 10 March – 14 August

RUNNING TIME an hour

https://www.sydneydancecompany.com/performance/impermanence/

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