Sydney Dance Co New Offering

It’s been a tough couple of years for Sydney Dance Company. But as revered guest choreographer Kenneth Kvarnstrom, who has created a new worked for the troupe, says, the dancers are a resilient lot.

When Rafael Bonachela took the reins of Sydney Dance Company as Artistic Director at the beginning of the year, he announced that the work of guest choreographers from around the world would make up a significant proportion of the company’s creative output. True to this word, Kenneth Kvarnstrom’s Mercury will premiere next week at Sydney Theatre.

Sydney Dance Company has been through a tough couple of years. The retirement of co-artistic directors Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon after three decades at the helm in 2006 was cruelly followed by the tragic death of newly-appointed artistic director Tania Liedtke the following year. As the company again went on a world-wide search for Liedtke’s replacement, 2008 saw three new works by three guest choreographers. But the dancers, Kvarnstrom says, are very resilient.

Finnish-born Kvarnstrom is one of Europe’s most revered and cutting-edge choreographers. For several years he was the director of the Helsinki City Theatre Dance Company and the esteemed Dansens Hus in Stockholm. He now heads his own company, K Kvarnstrom and Co, and has created works for Gothenburg Ballet, Helsinki Dance Company and Finnish National Ballet. Mercury is his Australian debut.

Like Bonachela, Kvarnstrom does not create narrative works. But physically their choreography is very different. “We don’t tell stories, so in that sense we’re both abstract,” he muses. “I think we both like to convey different emotional states to an audience, and I like to work with the subconscious. Rafael is very technical. I work in a more circular way, throwing the energy out, but also catching it back.

Kenneth Kvarnstrom’s Mercury, Sydney Theatre (Hickson Road, Walsh Bay) from November 17 – 28. For bookings call 9250 1999 or visit www.sydneytheatre.org.au.