As Sydney Dance Company embarks on a landmark European tour, Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela and company dancers Sophie Jones and Ryan Pearson reflect on the weight of history, the power of place, and the artistic ambition driving their international season. With performances slated for some of the world’s most iconic and culturally significant venues – including the Athens Epidaurus Festival, the Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris, and the Ljubljana Festival – the tour represents both a professional milestone and deeply personal journey for the artists.
In this candid conversation, Bonachela speaks to the philosophical resonance of Impermanence, the creative promise of Orsolina28, and the raw, emotional clarity he believes defines Australian contemporary dance. Meanwhile, Jones and Pearson share their anticipation, rituals, and insights on performing in spaces where centuries of artistic legacy echo underfoot.
What is the most significant part of this tour for you personally?
Rafael Bonachela
“You know, it is not about the one place. The significance, for me, is in the profound branch of cultural and historical context that we’re stepping into – Spoleto is in it’s 67th, and Epidaurus in its 70th edition. These are festivals that I have known about since I was a dancer myself, that I would have never dreamt that one day, my work and the company that I was going to be running, was going to be performing in this festival.
And then there is the artistic gravity that a place like France and Paris carry in terms of what dance means as an art form, ingrained in the culture and the people. I remember it took me 10 years to get Sydney Dance Company to Paris, to the National Théâtre de Chaillot.
Then you have Orsolina28, a fully dedicated creative space to the art form of dance, where two people have built a place for people to dream dance. To be able to spend time there as part of this journey, and the connection that you get through cultures and centuries through movement.
We are also the first company that has been invited for a second time in the history of Ljubljana Festival. They have never repeated a dance company, so it’s an honour to be going back there.”
The company is performing Impermanence at the Athens Epidaurus Festival, in the birthplace of western philosophy, with a piece that is very much a philosophical statement on the existential nature of things. Can you comment on this?
Bonachela
“The work itself, Impermanence, is like a visceral exploration of transience, loss, transformation, deeply existential themes that do really mirror the concerns of the ancient Greek philosophers, who were the first to really pose these questions about the nature of being and change and the impermanence of life. A place that certainly must echo the ideas and the thinkers of everything that has brought us to where we are as human beings. It is quite profound. The performance becomes more than just a dance in many ways; it becomes more like, a contemporary offering to an ancient conversation that’s been had for centuries. Life still feels like it can be taken away from you. Everything happened around COVID; the work is very charged. To think that we will be there in that stage, performing this work, in the birthplace of Western philosophy, with live music also, for all of the performances of Impermanence there with French quartet, the Zaïde Quartet.”
You will be developing your new work Spell at Orsolina28, an exciting and phenomenal choreographic development space. Can you tell us a bit about the work, and how you anticipate this experience is going to shape the company?
Bonachela
“With Spell, I’m giving a little bit more away then when I use my Latin titles. There is something about unforeseen forces that guide us, and intuition, memory, which are always part of my process, and threads within my work. I’m mostly using music by Bryce Dessner, who composed Impermanence. He’s coming to spend time with us, and to have him at Orsolina that week will really shape the work. There is also a version of ‘I Put a Spell on You’ that I heard, in an opening of Isaac Julien exhibition at the (MCA) art gallery.
To be working with Bryce Dessner in such a collaborative way, as I always do with the dancers, at Orsolina, amongst nature, in a place that is state of the art, designed specifically for deep choreographic exploration. Stillness, atmosphere, and the artistic generosity of everyone that’s going to come together and be in the space where, who knows, I feel like it’s unknown territory for what it could happen. Being in that environment will be a fertile ground for us to connect, for deep thinking, choreographic process, space, open air. All we’re asked to do is to immerse ourselves in the creative process, you know, but in a different rhythm and out of routine. For me, that’s part of staying creative, of staying alive and responding to whatever is happening that week. In that place, eating Italian food, drinking Italian wine, being outside our familiar environment. There will be a sharing at the end of the week, too, showing whatever emerged from our week there.”
When you think about audiences across Europe seeing Sydney Dance Company, what do you hope they will leave understanding about Australian contemporary dance?
Bonachela
“It’s something different that we have to offer, and for me, I’m Australian now, but I lived in London, and I worked the majority with Australians, since Ballet Rambert, which had five or six Australian dancers out of 21; there was a huge connection. Then I had a dance company, and I had six dancers, four were Australian, and then I ended up in Australia. For me, there is a boldness, a physicality, fearlessness and an emotional depth to Australian dance, in all its shapes and colours, and all the different work, and it makes me very proud to be able to be a small part of it. This boldness, rawness and clarity in Sydney Dance Company’s work. The way that we move as a company, how individual each person is in their uniqueness, in an ensemble of 16 dancers, you know, where most companies like us have 21, or 24, etc., but we do a lot with 16 dancers. There’s a sense for me every time a choreographer comes to Australia. It’s like, ‘Oh my, the dancers, they’re giving everything.’ I’m very proud to be able to bring the company across Europe to these very impressive, amazing festivals, and to be back in Paris. There is a refined artistry that is also part of what we do, and the artists who are on stage speak to the maturity of the cultural voice in Australia, that we’re sharing with the world stage.”
Is there a moment in this tour — a venue, a city, a performance — that you personally feel is your ‘pinch me, is this real?’ moment, and/or what are you most looking forward to?
Sophie Jones
“I’m most excited for Greece, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. I’ve done some research, and it is essentially made for theatre, so performing there, wow, a pinch me moment for sure. And I’ve got a lot of family coming over to watch me perform, which will be incredible in a space like that.”
Ryan Pearson
“Paris, I think, is an interesting one. A lot of my dance friends and artists have all performed there before, and they say really amazing things about the city. So, I’m excited to experience that myself. Performing in such amazing venues such as (The Théâtre National de Chaillot) in Paris, and especially the Odeon in Greece, is going to be really mind-blowing. I don’t even know how to feel about that! I’m so grateful for Sydney Dance Company in giving me these opportunities as an artist to go and perform at those spaces, gain that experience and live that life.”
You’ll be dancing in venues steeped in history. How do these spaces influence the way you will approach your performance?
Jones
“I just want to enjoy and soak it up as much as I possibly can, and take it all in as an experience for myself more than an external showing, which will probably improve my performance even more. It’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I might never go back, you know. I might be watching shows in that space one day, but I might never step foot on that again. So yeah, I just feel really lucky.”
Pearson
“One thing that I really like, and probably the reason I became an artist, is cultural influence, particularly Australian cultural influences throughout the international scene. During my time as an artist, I’ve experienced sharing Australian culture, on the international stage, and particularly in this tour, on the historical stage in Greece. This brings me the most pride and joy because it’s something that I’m taking part of to represent my country, and our country. You know, Impermanence is a show that I started performing last year. I’m very familiar with it, but to take something on a stage that grand and epic in terms of size, feels really fulfilling.”
During a creative residency like Orsolina28, when you’re developing a new work, how will you balance being open to experimentation while still maintaining the discipline of a touring schedule?
Jones
“We’re quite used to switching and changing between different works, but it’s definitely different with creation. Impermanence is something I’ve been performing since the beginning of my contract with Sydney Dance Company, so it is very set in my body. It’s probably a matter of maintaining the physicality of performance, but in the middle of the tour, creating will actually be a well-deserved rest from that kind of movement. The creation process will be in Moncalvo, which looks so incredibly beautiful, with beautiful food…just be out in the country like that, and it will be summer! I think using that as a form of inspiration, it will be a different mindset. Drawing from and enjoying the experience of being in a different space like that, we will all be bouncing off each other as well.”
Pearson
“I feel that because we’re going to experience so many new and amazing things overseas, I can imagine that once it’s our time to be a part of Orsalina28, we will be filled with so many new experiences that are going to benefit the rehearsal and creating period. When we are (creating) in Sydney Dance Company, we do tend to find ourselves as artists into a bubble where, because the shows and the work are very consistent, we need to make sure that we’re ready to perform, travel and make sure that we’re healthy, and in a stable spot physically. The international tour sort of breaks that away because all you want to do is go in and explore and experience new things. Even just being a part of these events is going to bring out various amazing different ideas and movement qualities through all the dancers. I think it is going to be a real growing hub for us, and I’m really excited about it.”
What is one surprising personal ritual you have before stepping onstage that no one would expect?
Jones
“My ritual at the moment, which depends what work we’re doing, is the essence of a song or an artist or a professional ballerina, or some kind of mood from art, is really helpful to draw from. I find that I have a very busy mind, and if I don’t go into this kind of particular thing before I go on stage… you’re just thinking too much about what you’re about to do, which you know what you’re about to do, so just having that essence of a person, like how they would feel doing this particular move, has been my ritual at the moment.”
Pearson
“When I’m traveling overseas, I have a piece of dry ochre. It’s like a bit of dry dust that my uncle gave to me. Because my father is Aboriginal, so is my mother, but this piece of ochre is from my father’s country, Minang country in Albany. Every time I travel overseas especially, I always take a jar. My uncle asked me to just put a little bit on my wrist, so when I’m performing, my connection to country is always with me.”
By Linda Badger of Dance Informa.
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