Sydney Dance Company – Rafael Bonachela's 360˚

MEDIA RELEASE: For immediate release

Christchurch Arts Festival and sponsor Strategy present
SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY – Rafael Bonachela's 360˚

Rafael Bonachela is one of the most intriguing and inventive choreographers working in the world today

Rafael is no dance snob. He boasts clients such as Kylie Minogue, Tina Turner and Primal Scream, so the Sydney Dance Company has one very cool artistic director at its helm.

Hailed by Sunday Times Magazine as "the next big thing" and by ID magazine as "the hottest of international talent", Rafael Bonachela has created a dynamic, sexy work for Sydney Dance Company that wowed Australian audiences when it burst onto the dance scene last year. 360˚ was staged at Sydney's CarriageWorks in July, drawing praise for "creative precision and exhilarating energy" and for "absolutely dazzling dancing from the performers". The Festival and Strategy are delighted to bring this dance sensation to Christchurch.

A self-described "movement junkie", Bonachela pushes the boundaries of modern dance. He finds inspiration in the visual arts and popular culture, which gives his work a distinctive and accessible style. Here there's no narrative, no deep meanings, just movement for its own sake. Innovative and exciting with an edgy energy, there are also moments of profound beauty and dazzling athleticism.

"Bonachela's 360˚ was the performance highlight of the year, pushing the skilled and talented dancers every which way to truly incendiary effect" – Dance Australia

"Unique, Kylie calls him, and she's right" – UK Guardian

"His dance is like a spray of bullets that hit their target" – London Times

"Bonachela delivers work that is breathtakingly, almost painfully beautiful" – Daily Telegraph, Sydney

Barcelona-born Rafael Bonachela's appointment as artistic director of Sydney Dance Company was announced in November last year, four months after the premiere of 360˚ and more than a year after the sudden death of director-designate Tanja Liedtke. Rafael's credentials are impeccable: he trained at the London Studio Centre and danced with Lanomina Imperial in Spain before joining the Rambert Dance Company where he went on to choreograph nine new works and then launch his own company, Bonachela Dance Company. Recent commissions include works for London's George Piper Dances, Dies de Dansa Festival Barcelona, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, David Hughes Dance Company for the Edinburgh Festival, Dance Works Rotterdam, English Chamber Orchestra and Kylie Minogue's Fever Tour. His outstanding achievement is to move seamlessly between the mainstream and the avant-garde.

ENDS

Rafael Bonachela's 360˚plays at Isaac Theatre Royal
Friday 31 July at 7.30pm and Saturday 1 August at 1.00pm and 7.30pm
Length: 1 hour, no interval
Ticket Prices: $39-$59
Bookings: www.ticketek.co.nz or 0800 TICKETEK (84253835)

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