SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY PRESENTS ITS FIRST FREE WORKS IN PROGRESS EVENT @ ROSLYN PACKER THEATRE

Inset pic- Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela. Featured pic- Alexander Ekman. Production photography by Peter Greig.
Inset pic- Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela. Featured pic- Alexander Ekman. Production photography by Peter Greig.

It’s just over three weeks until the first previews of Sydney Dance Company’s CounterMove, from Thursday February 26 at Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay.

The Sydney Dance Company is inviting the public to attend a sneak peek/preview of the production at the Company’s first FREE Work in Progress event for the year to be held at 6.30pm on Wednesday February 24 on the Roslyn Packer Theatre stage.

This exclusive event held during the final days of preparation for the season provides a unique glimpse of the behind the scenes action in the making of CounterMove.

Hosted by Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director, Rafael Bonachela, the Work in Progress event includes specially selected snippets of the dance performance and the chance to hear from some of the creatives behind the works, as well as from the dancers themselves.

The first production of the year will be a stunning two-part program, juxtaposing works from renowned contemporary dance visionaries – Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela, and multi-award winning Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman.

The world premiere of Bonachela’s Lux Tenebris, created for the Company’s first European co-production, takes its cue from a richly derived electronic soundscape created by Sydney composer Nick Wales. Named for the Latin term meaning ‘Light and Darkness’, Lux Tenebris is a 40-minute work featuring the full ensemble of Sydney Dance Company dancers, masterfully lit by award-winning Australian designer Ben Cisterne.

In stunning contrast, Ekman’s acclaimed and hilarious Cacti sees 16 dancers stand – seemingly trapped – on oversized Scrabble tiles. While a string quartet plays, and spoken recordings give tongue-in-cheek narration of the action, the dancers run, fall, writhe and try to escape their invisible prisons. Eventually – and this is the important bit, they each acquire a cactus. But what does it all mean?

The Sydney Dance Company has advised that places are limited for this Works in Progress Free Event. Bookings are essential-

thttp://www.sydneydancecompany.com/productions/countermove/#artist-talk