Sydney Dance Company’s 2025 Season Features a Spiritual New Work by Stephen Page and William Barton

Somewhere between ten and fourteen
Somewhere between ten and fourteen
Somos
Somos
Rafael Bonachela and Stephen Page AO

Somewhere between ten and fourteen ·Photo: Courtesy of Sydney Dance Company / Pedro Greig

Bangarra’s former artistic director lends his choreography to a live score by one of Australia’s leading yidaki players. Plus, Bonachela’s Somos returns for round two.

Anyone lucky enough to score tickets to Sydney Dance Company’s Somos in 2023 will remember how sexy and sensual that performance was. Performed in-the-round, with a mirrored floor and transparent “bars” hanging from the ceiling, it felt closer to a club night than SDC’s usual elevated stage.

“You could not get closer to the dancers than that show,” says artistic director Rafael Bonachela. “It was all Spanish and Latin American music – a little bit of an experiment – and we had to extend the season in Sydney. Now we’re taking it to Melbourne and bringing it back for an encore season in Sydney.”

Bonachela tells Broadsheet he’s switching up a couple of songs in Somos, but it’ll retain its intimate setting when it comes to The Show Room at Arts Centre Melbourne in March and back to Sydney Dance Company’s Neilson Studio from March 27 to April 6. “You can see there’s a hunger for different Sydney Dance Company experiences,” he says.

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One of the big announcements in SDC’s 2025 program is a collaboration with two First Nations greats – choreographer Stephen Page AO and composer and yidaki (didgeridoo) musician William Barton. It’s called Unungkati Yantatja, which will open in October at Roslyn Packer Theatre. Barton will play live on stage alongside the Omega Ensemble. The work itself is about the continual rhythm of life, connecting us to Country, land, sea, sky and creatures.

“I’ve followed Stephen ever since I started living here, 17 years ago,” says Bonachela. “I never tell artists what to do, but I did share this piece of music by William with him and they spoke about it and agreed on a story to tell. Having two First Nations artists coming together, making a work with live music on stage, it’s everything I love.”

Next year’s program also includes a standout work by dancer-turned-choreographer Tra Mi Dinh. “She created it for New Breed last year and I was so impressed with it. It’s the third work in 10 years of New Breed to be taken into the Company’s repertoire.” Somewhere between ten and fourteen is a transient work that’s an ode to twilight, to change. It originally debuted in 2023, and now Dinh gets to work with more dancers for its mainstage version.

New Breed will also be back – this time for its 12th iteration. Four emerging choreographers will showcase their works at Carriageworks in what’s become an annual mini festival of new dance. “It has its own audience, its own following,” Bonachela says.

SDC is also bringing back its first foray into kids’ programming. Club Origami – a charming performance for children aged up to five, choreographed by Takeshi Matsumoto – culminated in a paper-throwing frenzy at the Nielson Studio earlier this year. It returns to Sydney in July, this time with an all-Australian cast.

Plus, Bonachela will be choreographing a new work, Spell. “It’s an opportunity for me to explore a smaller scale,” he says. “I’ve committed to the title, but I haven’t decided how many dancers I’ll use just yet.”

There’s also an extensive tour to Europe, where the leading Australian company gets to show off its dancers with Twofold – a double bill featuring Bonachela’s Impermanence and Melanie Lane’s Love Lock. Plus, Indance will be back for its fourth edition in August, and Momenta – which just wrapped a string of shows in Melbourne – goes on tour to Mildura, Frankston, Geelong, Hobart and Newcastle from April to August.

sydneydancecompany.com

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