Forget everything you think you know about contemporary dance. In De Novo, Sydney Dance Company have set fire to expectations with a stunning three-piece program. Beginning with the breathtaking beauty of Rafael Bonachela's Emergence – soundtracked by Nick Wales and Sarah Blasko – the program was funny, visually stunning and an interesting exploration of the properties of art and pop culture. Right from the start, Emergence set a high standard for the quality of the dancing throughout the evening and every dancer lived up to the early promise.
Larissa McGowan's Fanatic was a devastatingly funny play on the Alien and Predator movie franchises. Watching Natalie Allen and Thomas Bradley contort their bodies into jagged and unattractive shapes, it was easy to imagine them as aliens wreaking havoc on a futuristic spacecraft. Though the dramatic fight sequence could have been more tightly executed, overall the piece delighted the crowd.
There were also plenty of laughs in Alexander Ekman's Cacti. The young Swedish choreographer fitted a lot into the last half hour of the night. Using the whole company, all perched on raised boxes at the front of the stage, Ekman had the dancers contribute to the score themselves, tapping out ever more complex rhythms. Before his piece concluded, he had the dancers indulging in slapstick and sight gags.
De Novo is a delight, at once both light-hearted and thrilling and a credit to everyone involved.
Sydney Theatre to Saturday 23 March
