Opening at Sydney Theatre on 13 March, 2012, 2 One Another is a thought-provoking investigation into human interaction.
With 2 One Another, master collaborator Rafael has joined forces with the visionary Production and Creative Designer Tony Assness (36O°, Brisbane Festival, Sydney Harbour Bridge 75th Anniversary), the highly-in-demand Lighting Designer Benjamin Cisterne (Mix Tape, Aviary, Halcyon) and contemporary Sydney Composer Nick Wales (Happy as Larry, CODA, Mental as Anything).The work was shaped during a creative development with the Sydney Dance Company dancers and poet Samuel Webster in September 2011. Together, using movement and text, they explored the philosophies of human relationships – the individual, the couple and the group – and the impact of external dynamics on these connections. The result is an examination of physical reaction and emotional impulse – the coming together of a choreographer’s vision, a poet’s expression and the minds and bodies of a group of highly talented dancers.
Of his newest work, Bonachela says, “It is the first time we at Sydney Dance Company have drawn on text so significantly in the research and development process. The work has required deep contemplation and intimate revelation and, as such, the result is a very personal work for all involved. We hope this will resonate with audiences in a real way.”
Click here to view the official Sydney Dance Company page for 2 One Another
FOUR AND A HALF STARS: Vibrant journey that engrosses with quirky encounters by Jill Sykes (Sydney Morning Herald)
“RAFAEL BONACHELA’S latest work for the Sydney Dance Company is his best since he became artistic director. This time he has harnessed the strength and skills of the dancers in a thrillingly fluent piece that maintains its vibrancy over its hour-long journey.”
“2 One Another – Sydney Dance Company” by Jimmy Dalton (Concrete Playground)
“Following the bewitching mixed-media collaboration of Protogenos in 2011, Webster and Bonachela began work on 2 One Another by feeding text to the company’s dancers, creating a dialogue that eventually crystallised into the action now on stage.”
“We Come Together” by Michelle Bateman (The Modernity Project)
“Separating the two sections is a punctuation point of poetry from writer Samuel Webster. Pieces of his texts are voiced throughout the performance, some a mumble, others more lucid but possibly none more striking than this one. “This whole world,” it says, “is you, and me, and silence.””
“Review: Sydney Dance Company’s 2 One Another” by Polly Simons (NorthSide)
“The LED screen behind the dancers is the work of veteran production designer Tony Assness, who first worked with Bonachela on 2008’s 360 degrees. It frames the movement of the dancers beautifully, lights one moment are fizzing like champagne bubbles, then racing the dancers across the stage the next. In short, 2 One Another is sublime. Highly recommended.”
“Sydney Dance Company: 2 One Another” by Geraldine Higginson (Dance Australia)
“At just over an hour without an interval this is a relatively brief but impressive new work from Sydney Dance Company (SDC).”
“Steps come from poetry within” by Andrew Taylor (Sun Herald)
“‘When someone whose work you really, really admire asks you to work with them, it’s a strange thing to say no,” Webster said. Bonachela, in contrast, said it was a purely selfish decision to open the rehearsal studio to the poet. ”I thought Sam could be a very useful tool,” he said. ”His writing could be a real inspiration for the work itself and for the dancers and that’s how it all came about.”
“2 One Another at Sydney Theatre” by Vanessa Keys (Daily Telegraph)
“A couple of weeks into the development period of 2 One Another […] the dancers were ushered, on their own, into a small studio furnished with a smattering of fold-up chairs and a video camera. Inside sat Samuel Webster, a Sydney-based poet whom Bonachela had invited to collaborate with him on the world premiere of his dance piece.”
Nick Wales (Composer): “Leap into the Unknown” by Kate Ausburn (Mood of Monk)
“I think the work itself musically, visually and choreographically, is quite abstract so people can take what they want from it. I hope that it can take the audience on a journey, to totally push them into another world,” because, he says, this is what relationships are like, “a series of ups and downs and a leap into the unknown.”
Tony Assness (Production Design)
“2 One Another” by Darryn King (TimeOut Sydney)
“Tony Assness knows how to put on a show. He’s worked as designer and creative director on some of the biggest live events Australia has seen, including the City of Sydney’s 75th anniversary celebrations for the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the 2011 Brisbane Festival. But there’s nothing Assness can do, he says, to upstage the human body at its best.”
“Interview: Tony Assness” by Elissa Blake (Sydney Morning Herald)
“The man knows how to put on a spectacle. Fireworks, confetti cannons, dancing girls in bejewelled G-strings. So what is he doing working at the Sydney Dance Company, where monochrome minimalism reigns? For Assness, an audience is an audience. ”People want to be moved,” he says. ”They want an emotional experience. They want to laugh or cry or be shocked. They just don’t want to be bored.”
“Q&A with Tony Assness” by Tony Magnusson (QANTAS Magazine)
“It’s a space that can transform itself and, hopefully, take the audience through a range of emotional states. 2 One Another is pure dance – it’s abstract – but that doesn’t mean the set will just be a black floor and walls with a few lights overhead.”
Justin Ridler (Behind the Scenes Photographer)
“La Practica – Behind the Scenes at the Sydney Dance Company” by Delima Shanti
“The upcoming production celebrates relationships, interactions and the beauty of the human form. So it is fitting that Ridler’s fly-on-the-wall photography focuses on fleeting glimpses of the dancers in various candid states. The brilliant black and white photographs offer a simplicity that hones the focus back on the individual subjects and presents them in their most graceful of forms.”
Tom Bradley (Dancer)
“SDC’s New Recruit Gets Personal” by Nick Bond
“Bradley will make his SDC debut in a work that’s at once both personal and collaborative. Artistic director Rafael Bonachela has encouraged his dancers to create personally meaningful movements which then serve as inspiration for the non-dancers working on the show, including poet Samuel Webster and composer Nick Wales.“All of the tasks Rafael’s set us have been about delving inside our own memories and experiences and bringing them to the surface,” Bradley said.”
Teaser by Samuel Webster
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUQlUGTxC0
LA PRÁCTICA by Sydney Dance Company / Justin Ridler (Click image to open site in a new window)
Sharing Spaces: A Day in the Life by Peter Greig
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJNjqkb3swQ