Sydney Dance Company returns to the Sydney Opera House with Engine

Sydney Dance Company takes to Sydney Opera House with a high-impact triple bill celebrating the strength, precision, and expressive power of the human body. Engine unites three extraordinary choreographers – Rafael Bonachela, Fran Díaz and Melanie Lane – in an exhilarating showcase of contemporary dance.

Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela’s new work, The Journey Itself Is Home, is set to a score by Grammy Award–winning composer Bryce Dessner and draws inspiration from the writings of 17th-century Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō.

 

 

Exploring movement as a state of being, the work traces an evolving landscape of change, longing and transformation, where fragility and strength exist in tension. Bonachela’s signature style drives the work’s shifting emotional arc, underscoring a choreography that unfolds through momentum rather than destination. Bryce Dessner’s four-movement score weaves together orchestral and electronic recordings, reflecting the arc of tension, release and renewal.

Berlin-based Spanish choreographer Fran Díaz, one of Europe’s most exciting rising talents, makes his Australian debut with The Mass Ornament, set to the music of Polish composer Henryk Górecki.

Reimagining Siegfried Kracauer’s 1927 essay, Díaz transforms mass movement into a study of the collective and the individual to reveal a deeply human network where bodies operate in unison, en masse, in constant dialogue with one another.

 

 

The program includes the Sydney return of the critically acclaimed Love Lock – a vivid, futuristic work that collides romance, tradition, and imagination – by Australian choreographer of Javanese/European cultural heritage Melanie Lane.

Drawing on social ritual, symbolic gesture and the emotional charge of love songs, Lane reimagines folk dance for an accelerating world, celebrating its power to move, warn and empower. Featuring spectacular costumes by legendary Australian designer Akira Isogawa and a pulsating score by UK electronic artist Clark, Love Lock unfolds with a palpable otherworldly energy.

For the first time Sydney Dance Company will offer an under 25’s ticket tier of $35, encouraging greater access to the physicality, creativity and innovation of contemporary dance. This will be an ongoing offering during Sydney Dance Company’s mainstage Sydney seasons.

 

 

Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela:

I’m especially proud to introduce Fran Díaz to Australian audiences for the first time. Celebrated as a rising international dance artist his work offers a humanity and powerful physicality through its exploration of choreographic formation. I am absolutely thrilled to bring Melanie Lane’s Love Lock back to Sydney.

This work has continued to delight audiences both at home and internationally with its dynamic interplay of ideas, theatrical textures and energy. It is also incredibly special to share with you my new work The Journey Itself Is Home, created in collaboration with composer Bryce Dessner. Bryce is the most wonderful, brilliant and inspiring person and our work together has emerged from a deeply creative and personal exchange. Engine reflects the creative impetus driving contemporary dance today and I can’t wait to present this program to audiences at the Sydney Opera House.

Choreographer Fran Díaz:

I am deeply humbled to have the chance of sharing my piece The Mass Ornament with Australian audiences in such a world-renowned institution as the Sydney Opera House. I believe the dancers of Sydney Dance Company are the perfect fit to reinterpret the intense physicality, abandon and emotional rawness that the piece requires, and I am truly honoured to be sharing the program with some of my choreographic heroes, Rafael and Melanie, two artists I deeply admire for their commitment to pushing the boundaries of contemporary dance, not only in Australia but internationally.

Choreographer Melanie Lane:

I’m honoured to share the iconic Sydney Opera House stage with Rafael and Fran, two artists that inspire me greatly. Thank you Raf for the ongoing support of my work and the opportunity to create and share this special collaboration with Akira Isogawa, Clark, Damien Cooper and the incredible artists of Sydney Dance Company. I’m excited to share this wild, synergistic crush with audiences.

Sydney Dance Company’s season, Engine is supported by our Season and Tour presenting partner The Art House, Wyong.

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Season Details

Venue: Drama Theatre
Date: 24 June 2026 – 12 July 2026

For more information click HERE

Photo Credit: JezSmitht