2 One Another

The 100^th performance of an international masterpiece.

Between people flows an energy beyond words. Since its 2012 premiere, Rafael Bonachela’s multi award winning tour de force has left critics and audiences speechless and must be felt to be believed.

Crackling with exultant power and intricate physical conversation, a pulsing pixelated backdrop, baroque-meets-electronica soundtrack and fragments of poetry, 2 One Another is a bright hour of irrefutable sensuality, delivering a visceral charge that has rocked audiences the world over.

“Always exhilarating” – Sydney Morning Herald

“Akin to fireworks exploding… An omnipotent emotional journey that puts the audience in the driver’s seat.” – Daily Telegraph

Warning: This production contains strobe lighting

Follow #SDC2OneAnother @SydneyDanceCo Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

5 – 14 October
Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay

Duration: 65 mins, no interval

Choreographer: Rafael Bonachela
Production & Costume Design, Creative Direction of Screen Content: Tony Assness
Lighting Design: Benjamin Cisterne
Original Music: Nick Wales
Text: Samuel Webster
Costume Design Consultant: Peter Simon Phillips
Costume Maker: Fiona Holley
Screen Content Designed and Produced by: Iloura
Executive Producer: Alastair Stephen
Design Director: Finnegan Spencer
Producer: Simone Clow
Lead 3D Artist: Kanin Phemayothin

2 One Another is an epic international masterpiece choreographed by Rafael Bonachela that runs for 65 minutes. Since it’s world premiere in 2012, 2 One Another has toured 30 cities on five continents and has won multiple awards.

Loosely structured in four parts, each with a unique visual aesthetic, 2 One Another’s movement closely follows the emotional trajectory of the music. Each section reflects the complex dynamics between individuals, couples and groups.

2 One Another opens with full Company on stage, using pedestrian gestures to communicate with each other. The piece then moves on to a number of shorter duets, at times sensual and fluid, at others powerful and aggressive. The journey finishes with a dynamic group section exploring our impulses and responses, with explosive jumps punctuating repeated phrases of movement.

Fun Fact: This marks 100 performances since the world premiere of 2 One Another in 2012. Of the original cast, 5 dancers remain for this landmark season: Charmene Yap (winner of the 2012 Helpmann Award and 2013 Australian Dance Award for Best Female Dancer for her performance in 2 One Another), Janessa Dufty, Bernhard Knauer, Todd Sutherland, Juliette Barton and Jesse Scales.

Rafael Bonachela is originally from Barcelona and has been the Artistic Director at Sydney Dance Company since 2009. His internationally recognised talent has seen him work not only with contemporary dance at the highest level but also with artists from popular culture, such as Kylie Minogue, Tina Turner, Sarah Blasko and Katie Noonan, as well as leading fashion designers Dion Lee and Toni Maticevski.

“At first, I start with nothing. A blank canvas. I explore until I begin to see a path unveiling before me, offering a promising gesture worth saving. I add layers, textures, visions, sound. I add bodies, connections, relations. To the music. To our bodies. To one another.”

Fun Fact: Rafael received his Australian citizenship in August 2017 – just in the nick of time to have his vote count for marriage equality!

2 One Another in 2012 was Nick Wales’ first collaboration with Rafael Bonachela. Nick composed the original music in the third movement of 2 One Another, mixing new classical strings with driving electronics and percussion.

Nick works across contemporary dance, film, theatre, and popular and new classical music. He collaborated with Sarah Blasko on the score for 2 in D Minor. Nick composed the soundtrack for the feature film Around the Block, starring Christina Ricci, and is Founding Member and Co-Composer for CODA, a critically acclaimed music group combining classical styles with contemporary rock and electronica.

Fun fact: Nick was responsible for incorporating elements of poetry by Samuel Webster into the soundscape for 2 One Another. The recordings of Samuel Webster’s poetic phrases were electronically processed and then integrated into the score by treating each phrase as a ‘gesture’ in response to the movement.

Samuel Webster lives in Italy and works in writing, film and photography. He won the People’s Choice Award in 2010 at National Youth Work for his poetry, and is the recipient of an ArtStart Grant from the Australia Council. Samuel first worked with Sydney Dance Company in 2011 on Protogenos, a book of visual poetry and photography inspired by Rafael Bonachela’s LANDforms.

“A poem is a comment, a short story is an idea, a novel is a world. When writing poetry I try to keep this in mind.”

Fun Fact: Samuel worked with the dancers to develop phrases for the poetic elements of the 2 One Another soundscape. These phrases include:

These are open palms. There’s nothing here to give. Only space with which to take.

You held out your hand, so I ran for it. But it was gone.

This whole world is me. Even in silence I can show you where it ends and where it begins.

The 2 One Another set features a white floor and a digital screen that provides a strong, vivid space to showcase the movement. The pulsing displays on the screen frame the dancers’ bodies, complementing the choreography, music, lighting and costumes, to create a cohesive and thrilling visual poetry. The screen content and lighting in the first three movements are cool and stripped back, with the dancers dressed in grey, athletic costumes. In the final movement, there is a seismic shift in response to the music, with warm tones and blood red costumes.

“The intention of the production design is to frame the action, while my intention as a costume designer is to get out of the way of that action while simultaneously dressing it.” – Tony Assness, Production and Costumer Designer

Fun Fact: The 2 One Another screen is 16 metres wide and 5 metres high, with 7,500 LED lights to make up background displays. There are 178 lights in the rig, as well as 6 strobe lights.

Read the 2 One Another Program, watch behind-the-scenes videos and follow #SDC2OneAnother on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

“★★★★½ 2 One Another is a dynamic, engrossing hour of dance in which music, design and staging combine with the movement to give the whole production outstanding character and strength.” – The Sydney Morning Herald

“Just when you think the SDC dancers couldn’t possibly look more magnificent, more dynamic, more superhuman, they do.” – The Australian 

“★★★★★ Stunning, athletic, rigorous, precise, this is a reminder of how breathtaking and extraordinary dance can be. It is a rare treat to see dancing of this calibre.” – ArtsHub 

“★★★★ This is an expertly realised spectacle, an absorbing dance attack that makes you nod your head to the beats of rising climax. As for the deeper meanings of 2 One Another, one certainly became clear on opening night when, behind the curtain call, the LED switching to a rainbow of colours etched out the words, Vote Yes.” – Daily Review

“If you love dance, this is a performance not to be missed. Simply stunning.” – Sydney Arts Guide

“Quite simply, 2 One Another epitomises the relevance and appeal of contemporary dance. This show stirs up excitement, wonder, fear, and respect and appreciation for the human form. In just 60 minutes SDC will take you on a journey of many emotions that will ultimately leave you in a very good place.” – Dance Life

“Popular with both audiences and critics, this work has a luminous beauty that is accentuated by Tony Assness’s ever-moving and changing digital background.” – Dance Australia

Winner of 2013 Australian Dance Awards:
Rafael Bonachela for Most Outstanding Choreography
Charmene Yap for Most Outstanding Female Dancer
Sydney Dance Company for Most Outstanding Performance by a Company

Winner of 2012 Green Room Awards:
Sydney Dance Company for Best Ensemble
Best Female Dancer

Winner of 2012 Helpmann Award:
Charmene Yap for Best Female Dancer 

“Always exhilarating… ‘Bonachela has harnessed the strength and skills of the dancers in a thrillingly fluent piece that maintains its vibrancy over its hour-long journey” – Sydney Morning Herald

“Akin to fireworks exploding… An omnipotent emotional journey that puts the audience in the driver’s seat.” – Daily Telegraph

“The kind of musical, dynamically diverse and physically challenging work dancers long to perform… this show is not to be missed.” – The Age

“Bonachela’s complex and ever-changing movement vocabulary, combined with Sydney Dance Company’s gorgeous ensemble, equals a winning formula… The non-stop choreography bursts with invention.” – Herald Sun

“2 One Another is a landmark and turning-point in the upwardly mobile career of this company and this director.” – Crikey.com

“Clean cut, sublime and fluid” – Concrete Playground

“A performance of astonishing stamina and physicality.” – Limelight Magazine

“2 One Another is full of moments that seem superhuman, transcending the potential of mere mortals.” – Australian Stage

“…purely brilliant dance with a beautiful freshness and immediacy a pleasure to watch.” – Stage Whispers