SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY
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THE JOYCE THEATER FOUNDATION
PRESENTS
SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY
INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED COMPANY RETURNS TO THE JOYCE
U.S. PREMIERES OF TWO WORKS BY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR RAFAEL BONACHELA
NOVEMBER 8 – 13, 2011
The Joyce Theater Foundation is
proud to present the return of Sydney
Dance Company for the first time since it has been under the artistic
direction of Rafael Bonachela, from Tuesday, November 8 – Sunday, November 13. The program for this engagement will
include two U.S. premieres by Bonachela set to commissioned scores by Italian
composer Ezio Bosso. Tickets for
this week-long engagement are $10-$49 ($26 - $37 for Joyce Members) and are
available through JoyceCharge at www.Joyce.org or by calling
212-242-0800. Please note: ticket
prices are subject to change. The
Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street, in
Chelsea.
Under
the vision of the Barcelona-born choreographer Rafael Bonachela since 2009, Sydney
Dance Company returns to The Joyce with a program that includes two U.S.
premieres, both by Bonachela and set to commissioned scores by Italian composer Ezio Bosso. The 39-year old company and its current
15 members will open its upcoming season at The Joyce with 6 BREATHS, a work that is divided into 6 sections – 1st Breath, Out of
Breath, Crying Breath, In the Same Breath, Under One’s Breath and Last
Breath – each featuring a piano solo mixed with the natural sound of
human breath. Working with Ezio’s score,
with video art by Tim Richardson and
costumes by Josh Goot, Bonachela
explores through movement the many facets of the simple and ever-changing act
of breathing. The second half of
the program is LANDforms. Inspired
by the emotional responses to the powerful and dramatic contrasts of the
Australian landscape and the elements that shape them, this moving work
features serene and sensuous movement set to Bosso’s score for piano, violin,
cello and voice.
Sydney Dance Company returns to The Joyce Theater from November 8 – 13 as follows: Tuesday
& Wednesday at 7:30pm; Thursday – Friday at 8pm; Saturday 2pm
& 8pm; Sunday 2pm. Dance Chat, a free post-performance
discussion, will take place on Wednesday, November 9. Additionally, a pre-show intro led by a Joyce teaching
artist will take place on Thursday, November 10 at 7pm. Both discussions are
open to all patrons attending those evenings’ performances. More information about these
discussions is available on the Joyce website. Tickets for Sydney Dance Company range in price from $10-$49 ($26 - $37 for
Joyce Members) and are available through JoyceCharge at www.Joyce.org or by calling
212-242-0800. Please note: Tickets
prices are subject change. The
Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street, in
Chelsea.
# # #
RAFAEL BONACHELA
Artistic Director, Sydney Dance
Company
Choreography and Concept
6 BREATHS and LANDforms
Rafael Bonachela took on the role
of Artistic Director of Sydney Dance Company in 2009. Since then, he has created three new works (we
unfold, 6 Breaths and LANDforms), re-staged several of his earlier
works (Soledad, Irony of Fateand The
Land of Yes & The Land of No), and commissioned some of the
world’s most sought after choreographers (Kenneth Kvarnstrom, Adam Linder,
Emanuel Gat and Jacopo Godani). Bonachela just renewed his contract with Sydney Dance Company
and will lead it through 2014 developing new works and entering into new,
exciting collaborations. Prior to
taking up the reins at Sydney Dance Company, he led his award winning, London-based
Bonachela Dance Company, on tour throughout Europe. As a choreographer he also undertook commissions with
international contemporary dance companies and crossed over into the pop world
including a commission as choreographer for Kylie Minogues Fever Tour. Barcelona born Bonachela began his
dance training at fifteen years old and at the age of eighteen moved to London
and continued his training prior to joining London’s legendary Rambert Dance
Company in 1992. There he remained
as a lead dancer and Associate Choreographer until leaving to set up his own
company in 2006.
EZIO BOSSO
Composition and Concept
6 BREATHS & LANDforms
Ezio Bosso is a London-based composer
who is currently the Principal conductor and Artistic Director of The London
Strings. Oceans was
his first symphony and his first commission for Sydney Dance Company. Since then he has collaborated with Rafael
Bonachela on the creation of 6 Breaths and composed Music for Weather Elements for LANDforms. Road
Signs Variations for The Land of Yes & The Land of No is one of his earlier
collaborations with Rafael Bonachela which toured throughout Europe in 2009
with Bonachela Dance Company and now comes to the Brisbane Festival for its
Australian premiere. From 2010, Bosso
has been principal guest conductor of the Filarmonica 900 of the Teatro Regio
di Torino and Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of The London
Strings.
Video Art
6 BREATHS
Melbourne born photographer and
director, currently living between Sydney and New York, Tim Richardson’s work
has been exhibited around the world and is held in the collections of Deutsche
Bank, Elton John and the Art Gallery of NSW. Tim regularly contributes to influential publications
including Dazed & Confused, V Magazine, Vogue and Interview. As a director, Tim has created film and
video installations, music videos and commercials. His first short film Procession was shown at the Strasbourg
Film Festival and at the British Film Institute as part of the ONEDOTZERO film
festival. Tim studied Design at
Swinburne University in Melbourne during which time he co-founded an art
direction and design business where his clients included Dale Frank, Tracy
Moffat and Bill Henson. As a
photographer he has worked with Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Sydney Theatre Company. Tim has published two books - most recently the limited
edition Physical Frequencies - and
recently judged the photography section of the Qantas Spirit of Youth Award and
is currently mentoring the award recipient. Tim was commissioned by Rafael Bonachela to create the 6 Breaths video art installation, a
singular component of the production’s stage design and Tim’s first
collaboration with the Company as a stage designer.
JOSH GOOT
Costume Design
6 BREATHS
Josh Goot is an Australian designer
living and working in Sydney. Producing
high profile fashion collections each season, he has been described as “modernism’s
new messiah” (Jamie Huckbody, Harper’s
Bazaar) and “the king of urban chic” (Stephen Todd, The Australian) for his “fast paced urban sportswear.” (Mark Holgate, Vogue) In 2005, Josh
showed his first collection at Australian Fashion Week where he won the Tiffany
& Co. Young Designer of the Year Award. International interest followed and in July 2005, the label was
featured on the cover of international fashion bible Women’s Wear Daily. In
2006 Goot made his first appearance at New York Fashion Week and later moved to
London. In 2009, he was awarded
the Marie Claire Best Designer Award in Australia and was nominated as a
finalist in the International Mango Fashion Award in Barcelona. Josh continues to show in Sydney at
Australian Fashion Week and is one of Australia’s most celebrated and talked
about young designers. 6 Breaths was Josh Goot’s first
commission to design costumes for dance.
About Sydney
Dance Company
Sydney Dance
Company has its origins in a company founded in 1969 by dancer Suzanne Musitz.
In the early 1970s, the organization came of age as The Dance Company (NSW) and
began to receive annual government funding along with a notable growth in
stature and public support. In 1975-1976 the Company was directed by Dutch
choreographer Jaap Flier, before the appointment of Australian choreographer Graeme
Murphy in November 1976. The
Company was led from 1976 – 2007 by Artistic Director Graeme Murphy and Associate
Director Janet Vernon. (Murphy and
Vernon instituted the defining name change to Sydney Dance Company in 1979.) Following the death of newly appointed
Director Tanya Liedtke in 2007, Sydney Dance Company spent time finding a new
Artistic Director to lead the Company on a new journey of excellence, and in
2009 Rafael Bonachela took over as Artistic Director. Sydney Dance Company’s headquarters are located at The
Wharf, Pier 4, in Sydney’s busy arts precinct at Walsh Bay where other arts
companies, such as Bangarra Dance Theatre, Carnivale, Sydney Philharmonia
Choirs and ATYP, are also located. Sydney Dance Company gratefully acknowledges
the support of the Australia Council, the Federal Government’s arts funding and
advisory body, through the Major Performing Arts Board; the New South Wales
Government through the Ministry for the Arts; and the invaluable support received
from its sponsors, company supporters and partners.
About The Joyce Theater Foundation
The Joyce Theater Foundation, a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance
community and its audiences for three decades. The founders, Cora Cahan and
Eliot Feld, acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea, which opened
as The Joyce Theater in 1982. The Joyce Theater is named in honor of Joyce
Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther’s clear,
undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately
possible to build the theater. One of the only theaters built by dancers for
dance, The Joyce Theater has provided an intimate and elegant home for more
than 320 domestic and international companies. The Joyce has also commissioned
more than 130 new dances since 1992. In 1996, The Joyce created Joyce
SoHo, a dance center providing highly subsidized rehearsal and performance
space to hundreds of dance artists, as well as special residency opportunities
for selected choreographers to support the creation of new work. In 2009, The
Joyce opened Dance Art New York (DANY) Studios to provide affordable studios
for rehearsals, auditions, classes, and workshops for independent
choreographers, non-profit dance companies, and the dance/theater
communities. New York City public school students and teachers annually
benefit from The Joyce’s Dance Education Program, and adult audiences get
closer to dance through informative Dance Talks, Joyce Pre-Show gatherings, and
post-performance Dance Chat discussions. The Joyce Theater now features an
annual season of approximately 48 weeks with over 340 performances for audiences
in excess of 135,000.
# # #
Leadership support for The Joyce
Theater’s 2011–2012 season has been received from the LuEsther T. Mertz
Charitable Trust.
Lead support for
accessible and inclusive programming provided by MetLife Foundation.
This presentation is supported by The
R. Britton Fisher and Family Gift for International Dance.
Additional support for this engagement
was provided with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts; the
New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong,
creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties; and the New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; and with
private funds from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund to encourage
the performances of out-of-town companies at The Joyce Theater.
Major support for The Joyce has been provided by Alphawood Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, First Republic Bank, The Hearst Foundations, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Open Society Foundations and the Fund for the City of New York, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation.