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Celebrating fifty years of the Sydney Opera House and fifteen years of Rafael Bonachela’s artistic directorship, this is a fresh, challenging, exciting triple bill which includes two world premieres. Technically the dancers were in amazing form, handling the demands of the various works superbly and with a lustrous quality of movement.
ASCENT features the work of three leading choreographers in the world of contemporary dance, with the premiere of renowned Spanish choreographer Marina Mascarell’s The Shell, A Ghost, The Host & The Lyrebird; the reprise of Antony Hamilton’s Helpmann Award-winning work Forever & Ever; and the premiere of Rafael Bonachela’s I Am-ness.
First up was Rafael Bonachela’s I Am-ness, which begins with the dancers ( Madeline Harms,Naiara Silva De Matos, Riley Fitzgerald and Piran Scott) in gloomy silhouette like an Anthony Gormley sculpture but then it lifts. Bonachela outlines his piece as “a momentary constellation of feelings, thoughts, and sensations”. The dancers are in black costumes and wear socks.Damien Cooper’s subtle , nuanced lighting is splendid and helps enhance the lyrical atmosphere. Bonachela’s exacting, labryinthine choreography is fabulous as the dancers swoop, slither, roll, leap, separate and then writhe sculpturally together, jump and are caught by the other dancers – a dancer collapses only to be safely caught and have her feet walked across another’s ribs , while at one point the dancers inquisitively tilt their heads, in a further movement phrase a tentatively extended hand is brushed aside instead of being held . The dancers respond to Peteris Vasks’ passionate , rhapsodic Lonely Angel score for a string ensemble that is exquisite , perhaps sorrowful, and longing. Fabulous.
After a short pause (during which Bonachela talked about the program) for a set change , we saw Mascarell’s The Shell, a Ghost, the Host and the Lyrebird..It is quite abstract and rather dominated by the spectacular set, and the commissioned score by Nick Wales.
The set (designed by Lauren Brincat and Leah Giblin who also designed the costumes rather monopolises the work, in some ways like an abstract painting. in others like being on board a ship – there are huge billowing metres of cloth attached to ropes that the dancers control, creating for instance the atmosphere of flapping tents, soft mounds or a dramatic sea storm.
The dancers interlace among them, heaving and pulling on the suspension ropes. They wear various loose fitting clothes with socks on their feet (a different colour for each dancer) . The dancing is slinky and powerful, fluidly controlled, including handstands and magnetic leaps .At times, it is quite intimate and enfolding .Curved lines of the body are contrasted with long stretched ones and there is a particular use of the arms. Classical ballet movements are taken and deconstructed – at one moment a dancer bourees on demi pointe. Towards the end of the piece the dancers freeze in tableaux, at times, and there is a remarkable dynamic duet. bMascarell’s’ choreography is imaginative and blends the inanimate, the icily robotic and the corporeal.
Nick Wales specially commissioned soundtrack is powerfully evocative, blending a striking mix of sounds, among them wind, bird calls, car engines, babies crying, wood creaking, pulsating electronics and a Baroque harp.
This was a striking, challenging work.
Sorry readers, but after interval there was a revival of Antony Hamilton’s Forever and Ever which I found most disappointing. Hamilton says the piece is a “homage” to pop culture and fashion, but for this reviewer there is also the possible reading of the work as multiple layers of a person’s dreams and thoughts?!
The piece starts softly with a solo figure on stage (Jesse Scales), as we resume our seats. Scales has a splendid angular, stretchy solo, then moves towards front centre stage and confrontingly stares at us. Suddenly there is a flash of light revealing the stage ,and a crash as other dancers enter, ominously cloaked in black over puffer jackets, and masked in a long winding line. They carry laser pointers while another line, cloaked in white, carry lamps.
The black line dancers wear long pointy white cones over their hands. Both lines undulate. Scales is lifted and manipulated.In Paula Levis’ costume design the cloaks/jackets/jumpsuits with appliqued hand motifs, are taken off to expose more layers, starting with black and yellow then black and red, and concluding in plain compact black gear.
Ben Cistene’s lighting employs flickers of bright colour. In Hamilton’s intricate choreography, there are lines of ensemble movement but also brief individual solos. It includes headstands, rippling arms, arms held behind the back and grooving.
Julian Hamilton’s driving score builds in momentum leading to a rave party like finale. It concludes with a crablike crawl by two of the dancers who then sit at the front of the stage.
https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/events/whats-on/dance/2023/sydney-dance-company-ascent.html
Running time, allow 110 minutes including interval.
A warning for people who might be affected, the production includes theatrical haze and strobe lighting. There are also laser pointers and partial nudity. Recommended for age 12+
I AM-NESS:
Choreographer: Rafael Bonachela
Music: “Lonely Angel”, meditation for violin and strings by Pēteris Vasks
Lighting Designer: Damien Cooper
Costume Designer: Rafael Bonachela
Madeline Harms
Naiara Silva De Matos
Riley Fitzgerald
Piran Scott
THE SHELL, A GHOST, THE HOST & THE LYREBIRD:
Choreographer: Marina Mascarell
Composer: Nick Wales
Set & Costume Designers: Lauren Brincat and Leah Giblin
Lighting Designer: Damien Cooper
Emily Seymour
Jesse Scales
Sophie Jones
Liam Green
Luke Hayward
Jacopo Grabar
Dean Elliott
FOREVER & EVER:
Choreographer: Antony Hamilton
Composer: Julian Hamilton
Costume Designer: Paula Levis
Lighting Designer: Ben Cisterne
9 – 11 March 2023 Canberra Theatre Centre 15 – 26 March 2023 Sydney Opera House NATIONAL TOUR 6 MAY – 12 AUG NSW, VIC, SA, NT, TAS
Featured image – Sydney Dance Company I-AM-NESS. Pic Pedro Greig