SDC’s new recruit gets personal

SDC’s new recruit gets personal

The Sydney Dance Company (SDC) launches its 2012 season this month with a new show that will showcase its intake of brand new dancers.

Tom Bradley, Jesse Scales and Chris Aubrey joined the company in January, with Alan Sargent to follow in April, and the three will make their debut in 2 One Another on March 14.

“It’s been really intense and exciting,” Bradley told the Star Observer during a rehearsal break.

“I consider myself really fortunate, because I just graduated from dance school at the end of November, so to walk straight into a dance company and have the chance to work with them and perform with them — yeah, it’s daunting, but it’s also an incredible experience.”

The young openly gay dancer, who hails from country NSW, has been awarded the second annual Sydney Dance Company Foxtel Scholarship, which offers him a three-month internship with the company, including his spot in 2 One Another.

He acknowledged it was quite a big break for a dancer fresh out of school.

“It’s such a small industry in Australia, and there are so many people who would’ve wanted this, so I feel really lucky.

“But at the same time, I’ve worked really hard in Melbourne and New Zealand, so it’s felt like a bit of a natural progression to now come here.”

Bradley will make his SDC debut in a work that’s at once both personal and collaborative. Artistic director Rafael Bonachela has encouraged his dancers to create personally meaningful movements which then serve as inspiration for the non-dancers working on the show, including poet Samuel Webster and composer Nick Wales.

“All of the tasks Rafael’s set us have been about delving inside our own memories and experiences and bringing them to the surface,” Bradley said.

“The poet watched us improvise dance then wrote his text. We were then given the text to inform our movements, so it’s all been going back and forth between us. It’s all very personal and unique.”

In his almost four years with the company, Bonachela’s been on a winning streak, with each new SDC show greeted with rave reviews and rapturous audiences.

The artistic director makes it all look so effortless, but we had to ask: is there a Spanish temper lurking under that charming exterior?

“I don’t know about Spanish temper, but that extreme passion definitely flows in the studio. It’s a really inspiring space to be in — he has so much energy, it’s hard not to just go with it.”

INFO: 2 One Another, March 14 – 31, Sydney Theatre. www.sydneydancecompany.com

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