Sydney Dance Company has joined forces with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to present an inspiring quartet of digital goodies. Directed by Pedro Greig and choreographed by Rafael Bonachela, each video in the Cuatro series pairs celebrated musicians and dancers on a new work responding to our distanced days.
Recorded at SDC’s studios in Ultimo, the first instalment – live now – features dancer Charmene Yap, accompanied by the musical talent of SSO’s principal oboe player Diana Doherty, who performs Heinz Holliger’s ‘Präludium’.
The series will continue this Friday with SSO’s concertmaster Andrew Haveron playing Niccolò Paganini’s ‘24 Caprices for Solo Violin’ for dancer Davide Di Giovanni. Cellist Umberto Clerici and dancer Juliette Barton are up on June 19, with the series rounding out on flutist Emma Sholl and SDC’s Chloe Leong on June 26.
SDC artistic director Rafael Bonachela says he’s absolutely delighted about the collaboration. “It has been very challenging and frustrating for all performing artists to not be able to perform. This has been an uplifting and joyful experience as four exceptional dancers and four virtuosic musicians from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra have come together, separately, to make this new work.”
Doherty adds, “From the outset, I was very excited about the idea of collaborating with the Sydney Dance Company in this creative way… Cuatro hints at the hope of better things to come and a society that has adjusted and developed more caring attitudes. It has been a joy to explore all this with such clever, creative people.”
Cuatro is free to view on both the SDC and SSO websites, plus their social media channels. Once all four videos are live, they'll be available until July 31.
This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
