Ben Apfelbaum

MEDIA CALL : SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY SEASON 1, 2019

Sydney Dance Company is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In those fifty years Sydney Dance Company have utilised over 250 dancers, dozens of composers and designers, all guided by its Artistic Directors- Suzanne Musitz, Jaap Flier, Graeme Murphy and Tanya Liedtke. The current Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela  has held this position for the past ten years.

Under the leadership of these artists and creatives Sydney Dance Company has become one of the leading contemporary dance companies in the world. In June the Company will embark on an extensive European tour to Austria, Finland, Poland and Spain performing Rafael Bonachela’s critically acclaimed Ab which comes from the Latin word ab (inta) meaning within.

Over the fifty years the Company has developed an extensive education program whose aim is to make dance available to everyone. For example it has an ambitious open class program which holds sixty five dance classes every week from beginners ballet to intricate hip hop and everything in between. There is also more specialised training through its pre professional year program.

Season 1 of the Company’s 50th year burst forth with a triple bill from Rafael Bonachela, Gabrielle Nankivell and Melanie Lane. In its world premiere Cinco harnesses the skills of five virtuoso dancers  sculpted by the lighting of Damien Cooper enhanced by fashion designer Bianca Spender, all to the wonderful String Quartet Number 2 by Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera.

Also a premiere is Gabrielle Nankivell’s Neon Aether which seeks to transport the viewer to a dreamy and gossamer like world beyond the clouds.

Melanie Lane returns with her 2017 New Breed smash hit WOOF which melds together classical, romantic and pop music driven by a score composed by British electronic artist Clark, evoking a dystopian world.

Season 1 runs opens tonight and plays until  the 13th April, 2019 at the Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay.

https://www.sydneydancecompany.com/

All pics by Ben Apfelbaum

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.