Sydney Dance Company is taking its double bill “CounterMove” on a national tour between May and August, taking in Canberra, regional New South Wales, regional Queensland, Darwin and regional Western Australia. “Countermove” features Alexander Ekman’s Cacti and Rafael Bonachela’s Lux Tenebris.
Originally created for Nederlands Dans Theatre 2, Cacti is a witty work involving a string quartet, tongue-in-cheek narration of the action and dancers who run, fall, writhe and try to escape their invisible prisons, before each receiving a cactus.
Lux Tenebris is named for the Latin term meaning “Light in darkness”. The work’s composer Nick Wales says, ‘I was driven by the idea that there is an inherent beauty in darkness. Just because something is dark, doesn’t mean it is ugly.’ Wales’s industrial-meets-electronic soundscape for Lux Tenebris justaposes one force against another to “create a musical tug of war between light and dark”. Choreographer Bonachela adds, “For me, there was a driving force about how light and darkness affects us all, our moods, our memories of specific periods in our lives – the physical sense of light and darkness, overlaid with the emotional connections to those contrasting worlds.”
“Countermove” tour dates
Regional NSW
17 – 18 June, Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong
22 June, Orange Civic Theatre, Orange
25 June, Newcastle Civic Theatre, Newcastle
29 June, Glasshouse, Port Macquarie
See additional regional NSW dates and venues end August below
Regional QLD
2 July, Pilbeam Theatre, Rockhampton
6 July, Gladstone Entertainment Centre, Gladstone
9 – 10 July, Centre of Contemporary Arts, Cairns
15 – 16 July, The Arts Centre, Gold Coast
Darwin
29 July, Darwin Entertainment Centre, Darwin Regional WA
3 August, Queens Park Theatre, Geraldton
6 August, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, Mandurah
9 August, Albany Entertainment Centre, Albany
Regional NSW
13 August, Bunbury Entertainment Centre, Bunbury
20 August, Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, Bathurst
24 August, Griffith Regional Theatre, Griffith
27 August, Dubbo Regional Theatre, Dubbo
Bookings: sydneydancecompany.com/countermove
Book early (by May 18) for Canberra and Melbourne, and be in the running to win a trip for two to Europe. For full competition details go to sydneydancecompany.com/productions/countermove/#win-a-trip-to-europe.