Sydney Festival dance highlights

Among Sydney Festival’s dance highlights is a fascinating collaboration between two dancers from very different backgrounds:

Rauf “RubberLegz” Yasit is a dancer, choreographer, film director and visual artist of Kurdish heritage, born and raised in Celle, Germany, and now based in Los Angeles.

Brigel Gjoka was born in Albania, trained classically, and performed with companies such as Ballet de l’Opera Ballet du Rhin (Germany) and Netherlands Dance Theatre.

The pair met when performing in William Forsythe’s A Quiet Evening of Dance. They decided to collaborate, and the result is Neighbours – a duo melding a physical language informed by Gjoka’s contemporary dance and Yasit’s improvisational breaking. It was described as “riveting” by The Guardian when it was performed at Sadlers Wells in the UK.

Another Sydney Festival highlight is a new work called Kairos, which will bring together choreographer Meryl Tankard with her frequent collaborators, composer Elena Kats-Chernin and visual artist Régis Lansac. In ancient Greek, Kairos means “the right or opportune moment for doing, a moment that cannot be scheduled". This work has been commissioned by Form Dance Projects and will involve the next generation of dance makers, including Taiga Kita-Leong who came through FORM Dance Projects annual Sharp Short Dance Festival pathway and won best film in 2021 with this work Within (watch here).

Sydney Festival will also see the premiere of Australian Dance Theatre’s Tracker. Snapped up by almost all the festival circuit, this is one of Daniel Riley’s first works as artistic director of the company and tells the story of his Great-Great Uncle, Alec “Tracker” Riley.

But wait! There’s more! Restless Dance Theatre, South Australia’s company for able and disabled dancers directed by Michelle Ryan, is performing Guttered; Flamenco great Sara Baras and ensemble are presenting Alma, and Stephanie Lake Company is performing its explosive Manifesto.

Sydney Festival runs from January 5 to 29. For more information, go here.