New Breed teams emerging choreographers with the Sydney Dance Company. Photo © Peter Greig.
Backing up the next generation of risk-takers in New South Wales is Carriageworks, with a new artistic program championing experimental contemporary work.
Carriageworks director Lisa Havilah said it’s an exciting time for contemporary art in NSW.
‘There are some incredible artists and companies working right across NSW,’ she said, adding that ‘the work being made in Western Sydney is particularly interesting.’
Carriageworks’ ambitious 2016 Artistic Program will see the multi-arts centre working alongside NSW artists and organisations to develop new work and support emerging talent.
Now into its third year of partnership, Sydney Dance Company will work once more with Carriageworks to present New Breed, made possible by the Balnaves Foundation: a project that gives emerging choreographers the opportunity to develop and present new work with dancers from the prestigious NSW company.
‘You couldn’t get a better opportunity than that – to work with what are the best dancers in the country,’ said Havilah. ‘This program is supporting the next generation of choreographers for the future.’
In 2015, Australian dance artist Kristina Chan will explore societal pressures on men by working with male dancers from the company; while Indigenous Australian choreographer Daniel Riley will explore ideas of power in Reign. Other debuts have included new work by Lucy Guerin Inc. dancer Lee Serle and Adelaide choreographer Gabrielle Nankivell.
In 2016 Carriageworks will be presenting Lake Disappointment: a new play inspired by true accounts of body doubles by Sydneysider playwrights Luke Mullins and Lachlan Philpott.
Combining music, performance and dance, Carriageworks resident Sydney Chamber Opera will present the premiere of O Mensch! in partnership with the Sydney Festival and Carriageworks from January 22 to 24. French composer Pascal Dusapin has reimagined 21 poems by Friedrich Nietzsche into a series of epic musical declarations for the opera. The Sydney Chamber Opera’s exquisite and successful take on Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground will also be revived for the 2016 season.
Meanwhile, a brand new partnership with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will support contemporary Australian and international composers.
‘This partnership will provide a new focus for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and a great opportunity for audiences to experience contemporary work,’ said Havilah.
With the official Carriageworks 2016 program launching at 7pm on November 10, audiences in NSW can prepare themselves for a year of bold new local work.
Tickets for the Carriageworks 2016 Artistic Program will be on sale from 9am on Wednesday, 11 November.
