Sydney Dance Company have exploded with this week’s double bill. Rafael Bonachela’s return of the 2021 Impermanence is an extraordinary work embellished with the live accompaniment of the Australian String Quartet, amplified and in echo of composer Bryce Dessner. Inspired and drawn originally from fires of destruction, the work is a commentary on humanity and survival. The performers take us to a corridor of light that integrates a perambulation that also like fire escalates in angles and staccato pulses. The work is brilliantly balanced in the dynamics of duets and then groups of odd numbers 3s and 5s. There is stalking, walking, checking in, checking out. Then a revelation in the ensemble choreography seemingly out of nowhere to shadow transition and light corridor shifts again. The final moments allow a powerful solo piece at the conclusion yet with a clunking comment to the obvious and a change in the music also signalling was potentially unnecessary but given what came before no harm done. The moment overdone for me but we see ourselves in the work, our existence, our hearts, we are found and we are abandoned. We are helping and we are healing.
After the interval we return to the premier Love Lock, the work of choreographer Melanie Lane. Brilliant play with light and the elements, haze and sound immerses the audience in a jungle of light fixtures. The chorus of dancers provocatively echoes their own soundscape, initially a whistling birdsong then follows a rhythm impact on the move and characters they are enacting as more and more of the stunning Akira Isogawa costuming illuminates the characters of the Love Lock. We draw from these figures an exploration of at times folk dance, cultural reference, and diverse communities with what began in a skintight vinyl look they then burst into feathers, gauze and colour capes. The entire company can be celebrated in a show of so much strength. I note in particular the women are beyond our admiration and are a strength to the SDC right now.
I so very much appreciated the theatre and the artistry of both works. Impermanence is almost faultless, and Love Lock is something else again! Do not miss this.
Dates: 18 – 28 September 2024
Location: Roslyn Packer Theatre
Duration: Approx. 115 mins (including interval)
Warnings: This production will include theatrical haze, strobe like lighting effects and occasional bright flashes of light.
https://www.sydneydancecompany.com/performance/twofold/
