Sydney Dance Company will present Current at the Neilson Studio from September 3 to 20, bringing four distinct choreographic perspectives together in an intimate program of contemporary dance.
The season features three newly commissioned works by Raghav Handa, Jenni Large and Azzam Mohamed, alongside the long-awaited Australian premiere of Rafael Bonachela’s E2 7SD. Presented as one continuous experience, the program will place the works in conversation while highlighting the breadth of movement practices and ideas currently shaping the artform.
Created in London in 2004, E2 7SD marked a pivotal point in Bonachela’s choreographic career. Its title comes from the East London postcode where he lived while developing the work.
The award-winning duet examines the connection between two bodies through a rapid, intensely physical exchange. Although it has been performed internationally, the work has never previously been seen in Australia.
Raghav Handa’s new work, One Song, considers how contemporary dance traditions evolve, and how once-radical ideas become part of the foundations inherited by later artists.
Drawing on a practice informed by Indian kathak and contemporary movement, Handa looks to the energy, folklore, secrets and contradictions of Sydney while asking where the form might travel next. Vicki Van Hout will serve as outside eye, with music by James Peter Brown.
In Alpha Mutt, Jenni Large explores obedience, power and belonging through the metaphor of the dog. Drawing on horror, comedy, cinema and popular culture, Large builds a highly visual world in which repetition becomes ritual and the dancers move between discipline and rebellion.
The work considers the ways authority is created, performed and resisted, with music by Louis-Frere Harvey.
Azzam Mohamed’s OUR(SELF) draws on spaces where music, movement and self-expression bring people together. Developed collaboratively with the Sydney Dance Company Ensemble, the work moves between individuality and collective experience.
Mohamed’s choreographic language is shaped by Afro-House, Kuduro, Hip Hop, Popping and House, bringing street, club and African dance forms into the Neilson Studio. Jack Prest will compose the work’s score.
Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela said the season offered an opportunity to consider the continued evolution of contemporary dance.
“Revisiting E2 7SD alongside new work by Jenni, Raghav and Azzam has been a chance to reflect on how contemporary dance continues to evolve,” he said.
“Each artist approaches movement from a distinct perspective, and that is what makes this season so exciting. Together, these works sit in dialogue with one another, revealing a breadth and curiosity that runs through Current.”
Current will also serve as the centrepiece of a public program celebrating Sydney Dance Company’s 40 years at The Wharf.
For four decades, the company’s Walsh Bay home has been a site for rehearsal, training and creative development, with generations of artists working in its waterfront studios. A broader anniversary program, running from late August through September, will be announced on August 4.
Current will be presented at the Neilson Studio, Sydney Dance Company, from September 3 to 20.