#10: Kinselas Nightclub (1983)

In 1983, Sydney Dance Company staged its Flashbacks season in an unlikely venue: Kinselas nightclub in Darlinghurst.

The building has a storied past: in 1932 undertaker Charles Kinsela had commissioned young architect Chares Delit to convert it into a funeral home, replete with a chapel and a mortuary, in a soaring example of the art deco style that would make Delit famous.

Kinselas Chapel in the 1960s

Kinselas Funeral Parlour

In 1982 the building was sold to restaurateur Leon Fink, who converted the property to a restaurant and cabaret venue: Sydney Dance Company were amongst the first to perform there.

Despite the fact the stage could barely fit all the dancers on the tiny stage, let alone dancing, the season brought Sydney Dance Company to a whole new audience. They would return to Kinselas with Deadly Sins in 1984 and Sirens in 1985.

Deadly Sins poster, Kinselas 1984

Newspaper clipping of Francoise Philipbert in Deadly Sins

Kinselas Restaurant and Cabaret Bar Poster

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