Season Preview: Your guide to the arts in 2021

A few days before Sydney Dance Company premiered Impermanence in March this year, the doors of the theatre were closed due to COVID-19 and the season was cancelled. It was a “heartbreaking disappointment”, said SDC Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela.

Bonachela had created Impermanence to a brand new score by Bryce Dessner, which had been co-commissioned with the Australian String Quartet who were to perform the music live on stage.

Originally it was a short piece programmed as part of a triple bill. Not any more. Now a full-length work, Impermanence will open Sydney Dance Company’s 2021 season at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in February, and will later tour nationally.

Impermanence promotional image. Photograph © Pedro Greig

“The COVID shutdown inspired me to extend Impermanence to make it a full-length work – a response to the uncertainty we all face,” said Bonachela.

Impermanence sees the dancers joined onstage by our dear friends, the exceptional Australian String Quartet, playing Bryce Dessner’s exquisite score live. How poignant that a work originally influenced by the fragility of existence is the first to be...