Sydney Dance Company’s 2016 program kicks of at Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre, February 26, with a double bill entitled “CounterMove”. The season features Alexander Ekman’s 2010 work, Cacti, and the world premiere of Rafael Bonachela’s Lux Tenebris.
In under ten years, Alexander Ekman has been commissioned by more than 45 dance companies around the world, including Netherlands Dance Company, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. In Cacti he presents a gleeful and knowing parody of contemporary dance. Sixteen 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 they each acquire a cactus… but what does it all mean? Read Dance Australia’s review of this work in 2013’s “De Novo” program here.
For Lux Tenebris (Light and Darkness), Bonachela works, once again, with composer Nick Wales. Using the full SDC ensemble, Lux Tenebris explores the extremes of human experience, responding to Wales’s soundscape.
After its Sydney season, CounterMove will head to Canberra (19-21 May, Canberra Theatre Centre) and Melbourne (25 May 25 – 4 June Southbank Theatre). The program will then tour regional centres in New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. Click here for more info about all performances.