Ascent
Sydney Dance Company
In 2023, Sydney Dance Company takes to the stage of the Sydney Opera House as part of their 50th anniversary with the thrilling triple-bill Ascent, co-commissioned by Canberra Theatre Centre.
Ascent features the work of three leading choreographers in the world of contemporary dance, with the premiere of renowned Spanish choreographer Marina Mascarell’s The Shell, A Ghost, The Host & The Lyrebird, the reprise of Antony Hamilton’s Helpmann Award-winning work Forever & Ever and the premiere of Rafael Bonachela’s I Am-ness.
Brimming with physicality, Ascent explores ideas of the now, order, chaos and human behaviour with three innovative works from local and international dance stars. Full of electric movement and emotional force, Ascent is a powerful and arresting portrait of contemporary dance today and its potential to move, thrill and activate audiences.
Brought to life by Sydney Dance Company’s superb ensemble, Ascent is a sensorial feast featuring immersive installations and magnetic musical scores.
This triple-bill is a creative union at once forceful, sumptuous and electrifying.
ABOUT MARINA MASCARELL
“Every creation process transforms me deeply. I see my life through those processes. They are the doorways I cross every time that I create.”
Marina Mascarell is a Spanish choreographer currently based in The Netherlands. She has been appointed as the Artistic Director of Danish Dance Theatre and will commence her role in April 2023.
Marina was the Resident Choreographer at Korzo Theatre in The Hague between 2011-21, Associate Artist at Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona since 2018 and founder and artistic director of MEI(s) Foundation.
Marina has been commissioned to create pieces for institutions such as Nederlands Dans Theater 1 and 2, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, Biennale de la Danse of Lyon with Lyon Opera Ballet, Skanes Dansteater and Dance Forum Taipei.
Her work has been performed in The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Taiwan, China, Korea, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. She has been recognised and awarded with several prizes including the BNG Excellent Dans Award 2015.
Marina’s works are poetic, political and intimate. In her art, the reflections, inquiries and concepts become a poetic fight, where thought transforms into corporeality and movement. Marina is interested in a rebellious body characterized by questioning ‘normativity’. She considers the dancing body as a form of resistance, deeply rooted in political and social action.
Marina has studied queer theories, feminism, posthumanism, decolonisation and her work is imbued with themes of questioning society and the status quo.
Marina is the first international choreographer that Sydney Dance Company has worked with in over 6 years.
ABOUT ANTONY HAMILTON
Antony Hamilton is the Artistic Director and co-CEO of Chunky Move. He works with collaborators to experiment with materials and spaces, and uses choreography to occupy vivid imaginary worlds. Antony is preoccupied by the notion of an elemental, primordial body, situated in a construct of intersecting contemporary narratives, while being confronted by the dilemmas of an unknowable destiny.
His award-winning creations involve a collaborative melding of movement, sound and visual design. His major works include the seminal Black Project 1 (2012), critically acclaimed MEETING (2015) and NYX for the 2015 Melbourne Festival. He has created numerous national and international commissions, including Keep Everything and I Like This for Chunky Move, Black Project 3 for The Lyon Opera Ballet (FR) and Sentinel for Skanes Dansteater (SE).
Antony was the inaugural recipient of the Russell Page Fellowship in 2004, Tanja Liedtke Fellowship in 2009, a Creative Australia Fellowship in 2012 and Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship in 2014. He was guest dance curator at The National Gallery of Victoria in 2013-14 and honorary Resident Director at Lucy Guerin Inc in 2014. He was also inaugural Resident Artist at Arts House in 2015, and inaugural International Resident Choreographer at Dancemakers Toronto (CA) in 2016.
Antony is the choreographer of Forever & Ever, which premiered at the Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay in October 2018, and features a score by his brother, Julian Hamilton of The Presets.
In 2019 Antony created Token Armies, his first work as Artistic Director of Chunky Move, and in 2020 he was guest mentor for Dancehouse Helsinki’s SPARKS project.
NATIONAL TOUR
Ascent
Sydney Dance Company’s national tour will feature performances of Ascent, a triple-bill by Rafael Bonachela, Marina Mascarell and Antony Hamilton.
“Forever and Ever lays siege to the senses with a mighty display of shock and awe. It’s immediate, visceral stuff, as Wednesday’s opening night reception proved. The roars of approval went on and on.” The Australian
Ascent National Tour dates
Wyong, NSW
Ascent
06 May, The Art House
Adelaide, SA
Ascent
11 – 13 May, Dunstan Playhouse
Bendigo, VIC
Ascent
31 May, Ulumbarra Theatre
Warrnambool, VIC
Ascent
03 Jun, Lighthouse Theatre
Darwin, NT
Ascent
19 Jul, Darwin Entertainment Centre
Alice Springs, NT
Ascent
22 Jul, Araluen Arts Centre
Hobart, TAS
Ascent
27 Jul – 29 Jul Theatre Royal
Launceston, TAS
Ascent
02 Aug, Theatre North
Newcastle, NSW
Ascent
09 Aug, Civic Centre
Port Macquarie, NSW
Ascent
12 Aug, Glasshouse
