Year 9 student, Emily Hurwood, on attending a Sydney Dance Company School Matinee

At Sydney Dance Company school matinees, we share our cutting edge contemporary dance performances with school audiences. Carefully designed, they connect school students to dancers, choreographers, artistic collaborators and the creative process through pre-show talks and demonstrations. Emily, a Year 9 Student from William Clarke College wrote about her experiences attending a matinee.

Check out what she thought below!

On Thursday the 25th of October, years 8-11 dance students had the privilege of watching two works created by Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director, Rafael Bonachela, , and Guest Choreographer,  Antony Hamilton. After hearing a brief overview of Rafael’s creative process, we were in awe watching the first work – Frame of Mind. This captivating performance featured movements created in collaboration with the Company dancers. Afterwards, we learned about artistic roles we do not usually hear about, including principal violinist of the Australian String Quartet and Sydney Dance Company’s Technical Director. We then launched into the abstract and eccentric work by Antony Hamilton – Forever and Ever. Our school matinee experience concluded with a discussion with the Artistic Director, Rehearsal Director and Education and Outreach Director about their roles within a performing arts company and a Q&A with Company dancers.

Our school group was also very fortunate to experience a workshop at Sydney Dance Company’s new custom-made studios located in Ultimo. During the workshop, we were guided through a contemporary dance warm-up and technique exercises which pushed us out of our comfort zones. We also learnt a section of the work in Frame of Mind, allowing us to experience movement like the professional dancers. We were also guided through a composition / creative task that Rafael used to create Frame of Mind, offering us further insight into his creative process.

Overall, our school matinee and workshop experiences at Sydney Dance Company were memorable and we have taken away valuable aspects which we look forward to putting into our own dance compositions and performances.

Sydney Dance Company school matinees begin in April 2019 with Season Bonachela / Bonachela / Nankivell / Lane / Lane/ Nankivell / Bonachela / Nankivell / Lane.