Theatre Review: New Creations

Rafael Bonachela’s direction of The Sydney Dance Company’s latest season New Creations follows on from we unfold, Bonachela’s wonderful programme for the company in 2009. Fans of his work will be pleased to see him directing the company in a double-feature which brings Sydney-born (yet Berlin-based) Adam Linder and Bonachela side-by-side at the helm of this outstanding ensemble.

Adam Linder’s work is breathtaking and confrontational with Are We That We Are taking a magnificently constructed leap into human autonomy. Linder says so much in the simplest of gestures, but it is evident that his creations take a lot of work. The ensemble was outstanding, channelling creatures which oscillated from zombie to equine, with a short pause at cyborg. Though the narration could have been incredibly pretentious or even simply over the top, it was uncomplicated and poignant. It said all that was needed and left its mark in simplicity. The true mark of a talented creator comes from these final details, the small traces of authorship which stand on the edge, eager to be acknowledged but impossible to define.

While watching his piece, I found myself intrigued by Linder’s ideas but I didn’t feel closer to him as a choreographer or even, a physical philosopher (if such an amalgamated term might be permitted for the sake of labelling my own uncharted territory.) His work is alienating as it confronts the human psyche, and perhaps therein lies the crux of his argument. Perhaps his pithy characters inspire enough empathy that the author appears to lose autonomy himself, merely channelling the constructions of the modern world. In another way, Linder’s choreography lends itself to imagining a creator beyond the author, whose hands play with shivering marionette strings.

The piece leaves itself open to these elements of thought, but it does not direct us towards them. As a critic, I feel led to possibility, but not to a statement. It is possible that the slight negative comment I have to make points to the freedom of interpretation. It seemed, towards the end of the piece that a very tight idea unravelled slightly. It was the kind of unnecessary expansion that could occur in any piece of art, the taking of an idea one degree too far. While Linder’s details were exquisite and touching, on a grander scale I feel like the notion of the piece went too far portraying man as beasts. Of course, the analogy is apt, but to me it seemed to take fuel away from the very human aspects of the exposition.

Bonachela’s work is, as usual, wonderfully exploratory and would warrant a far greater mention if it weren’t for the quality of its companion piece. 6 Breaths is a wonderful companion piece, using the dancers in an way entirely different to the opening piece. The music by Italian composer Ezio Bosso (who also worked on we unfold) is at all times an intriguing arrangement, especially considering a limited orchestration. Though Bonachela’s piece was not inferior to Linder’s by any stretch of the imagination, the emotional involvement did not match either Are We That We Are or we unfold. Though it was hard to single out one particular dancer as outstanding in Bonachela’s work, Adam Linder’s showcase showed, once again, the aptitude of Richard Cilli – a very talented man whose name seems to be coming up quite often in my dance reviews.