Sydney Festival

Two high-octane works from Australia and Northern Island explore class, gender and the fortitude of feminism.

Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus

Masculinity, testosterone, social class, identity, football allegiance, religion, aggression – the id of the Northen Irish chav is broken down and raised again in Oona Doherty’s dextrous, captivating choreography for Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus.

Doherty’s choreography brings a vibrating, method-acting intensity and nuance. It’s a moving, swaggering, loving, razor-sharp tribute to a group rarely afforded space in contemporary dance.

Wolverine

Emma Harrison’s solo work Wolverine with composer Amy Flannery turns the need to carry your keys in your fist at night, like Wolverine, into a cycle of transformation, subverting and appropriating feminine archetypes, mythology, wolves, pop culture and self-defence.

A highly physical work somewhere between dance, cabaret and performance art, it explores critical notions of gender, power, the pervasiveness of feminine archetypes in our stories, and the repercussions of those tropes on women’s bodies.

Credits

Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus

Choreographer Oona Doherty
Production Gabrielle Veyssiere
Performer Sandrine Lescourant aka Mufasa
DJ and car driver Maxime Jerry Fraisse
Light technician Lisa Marie Barry

Supported By

Supported by Dance Resource Base, Art Council of Northern Ireland, The MAC Theatre – Belfast, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, British Council, Prime Cuts Production.

Wolverine

Choreographer and performer Emma Harrison
Composer Amy Flannery
Dramaturg Miranda Wheen
Producer Carl Sciberras

Gallery images

Photo credits: Remi Angeli, Nat Cartney

“A swaggering, graceful ode to working-class men… There’s reverence here, and humour; a massive talent and a hugely original voice.”

The Guardian for Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus

Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus – Oona Doherty
Wolverine – Dance Makers Collective, World Premiere

This exhibition is a free event.

Credits

On View: Icons

Icons Director and Editor Sue Healey
Cinematographer Judd Overton
Composer Darrin Verhagen
Producer Dino Dimitriadis
Drone cinematographer Ken Butti

Featuring

Lucette Aldous AC
Elizabeth Cameron Dalman OAM
Nanette Hassall AM
Elma Kris
Eileen Kramer
Shirley McKechnie AO FAHA

Supported By

Australia Council and Create NSW
Tobi Wilkinson and Rob Keldoulis
Creative Australia

Movement artist Zee Zunnur (co-choreographer and performer in Marrugeku’s Mutiara) illuminates the ways in which you can connect with your inner rhythms while embracing the ecstasy of movement to a soundtrack of groovy beats. This session is a safe space to practise connected embodiment, and discover the totality and power of your body through guided movement explorations.

This workshop is limited to 25-30 participants – tickets will go fast.

Attendees must be at a pre-professional or early career practicing professional level to participate in this workshop.

Credits

Photo credits: Michael Jalaru Torres

Marrugeku’s co-artistic directors Dalisa Pigram and Rachael Swain will lead a masterclass to share core cultural and choreographic processes that underpin Marrugeku’s approach to intercultural contemporary dance theatre. In this class you will work through devising processes and shaping and structuring material. You’ll use the workshop to explore the capacities of intercultural dance theatre to produce expressions of the uncanny, through embodying social, cultural, personal and interspecies expression to develop new approaches to gestural dance theatre drawn from the participants own movements, stories, cultural backgrounds and experiences.

This workshop is limited to 12 participants – tickets will go quickly.

Participants should have two to three years of experience in one or more of dance, circus, street dance, traditional or contemporary Indigenous dance, martial arts or other movement based practices. The workshop is also open to actors with some movement experience interested in improvisational movement processes to generate theatre.

Credits

The Marrugeku workshop will be run by co-artistic directors Dalisa Pigram and Rachael Swain.

Marrugeku is an unparalleled presence in Australia today, dedicated to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working together to develop new dance languages that are restless, transformative and unwavering. Marrugeku’s performers come from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, collaborating to co-create each production.

Photo credits: Luke Currie-Richardson

Led by Dancenorth’s Amber Haines, this intimate workshop for independent dancers offers a rare chance to experience choreographic methodologies from the Wayfinder production. Beginning with priming mechanisms that ignite your sensorial awareness and expand your capacity for connectivity, together you’ll explore a complex improvised structure from Wayfinder that is bound by rigorous parameters and decision making involving kinaesthetic, aural, energetic and intuitive intelligences.

This masterclass is limited to 20 participants. Attendees must be at a pre-professional or professional skill level to participate.

Credits

As a major champion of the arts in regional North Queensland, Dancenorth Australia balances a dynamic regional presence with a commitment to creating compelling contemporary dance that tours the globe.

Dancenorth is one of Australia’s leading contemporary dance companies having presented work in over 45 International Arts Festivals and venues around Australia and the world and is an integral part of the Australian dance ecology making a significant contribution to the dance sector and building literacy around contemporary dance nationally.

An epicentre of cultural exchange, Dancenorth empowers and supports dancemaking in Australia and independent practice through residencies, secondments, and creative developments through our Artistic Leadership and Capacity Development Program.

Alongside the professional Ensemble and touring productions sits an equally vital pillar of focus: Community Experience. Driven by a dedicated team, Dancenorth works with diverse and minority communities across Queensland using dance to support, enhance, inspire and heal – bringing communities together.

Photo credits: Amber Haines

A celebration of Torres Strait Islander storytelling and dance.

Get hands-on and have fun discovering the unique art and stories of the amazing Torres Strait Islander communities. Come together to celebrate and learn with Torres Strait Islander performing artists. Once you’ve immersed yourself in Torres Strait Islander culture, continue your journey by seeing the world premiere work GURR ERA OP produced by Force Majeure in association with ILBIJERRI Theatre Company.

About the Workshop Leader

Ryka Ali’s heritage stems from the Yidinji clans of Cairns, the Kuku Yalinji clans of Mossman & the Torres Strait Islands. A winner in the Young, Black & Deadly Talent Quest (2003) he is a proud ambassador for Australia’s Indigenous youth. Working since he was 12 both with his family & solo Ryka has performed his presentations in schools, festivals & cultural events throughout Australia & the world.

This workshop is limited to 30 participants. All ages, abilities and experience welcome.

Photo credits: Ashley de Prazer

The Neilson Studio is Sydney Dance Company’s newest performance and theatre space located at our refurbished home at the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct.

There are many options for getting to Sydney Dance Company:

Sydney Dance Company
Wharf 4/5, Walsh Bay Arts Precinct
15 Hickson Rd, Dawes Point
NSW 2000

Public Transport
Public transport is the best way to get to the Wharf. You can arrive by train, bus or ferry. The Wharf is a 15 minute walk from Circular Quay and Wynyard train stations.

Bus services
The 324 and 325 buses run from the CBD to Dawes Point, with stops just outside our Wharf Studios. Visit the Transport for NSW website for more information.

Parking at The Wharf
While on-street metered parking is available in Walsh Bay, we recommend parking at the following parking station located nearby:
● Bond One​, 26 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
● Barangaroo Point, entry via Hickson Road
● Barangaroo Reserve, 5 Towns Place, Barangaroo