A visceral and thrilling exploration of the juxtaposition of beauty and devastation, this full-length work features a moving score full of emotional power from Grammy Award-winning composer Bryce Dessner and co-commissioned with the Australian String Quartet. Best known as a founder of American rock band The National and for his film scores for The Revenant and The Two Popes, Dessner was initially inspired by the tragedy of the Notre-Dame fire in Paris and the devastating Australian bush fires.
Experience the power of dance and music performed live together as Sydney Dance Company’s “magisterial” (Limelight) ensemble is joined live on stage by the Zaïde string quartet.
From moments of fleeting vulnerability to devastation emerges a sense of energy, urgency, radiance and hope. Impermanence delivers an epic, emotionally charged performance that packs an emotional punch.
choreographed by Rafael Bonachela
music composed by Bryce Dessner
and co-commissioned by the Australian String Quartet, featuring Another World by Anohni
music performance by Quatuor Zaïde
lighting designer Damien Cooper
stage designer David Fleischer
costume designer Aleisa Jelbart
Quatuor Zaïde
violin I Charlotte Maclet
violin II Leslie Boulin Raulet
viola Céline Tiso
cello Juliette Salmona
Italian premiere
INFORMATION
Ticket holders for one or more performances at the Roman Theatre may collect a corresponding number of free admission tickets to the National Archaeological Museum and Roman Theatre of Spoleto at the following locations:
• Festival Box Office & Merchandising
Via Saffi 12 – open daily from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.; from 23 June: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; from 28 June: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Festival Box Office Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti
Via Vaita Sant’Andrea 12 – open from 27 June to 13 July 2025, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. (closed on Mondays)
• Theatre box offices – open from one hour before the start of each performance.
Please note that dates and times may change.
For updates consult the website www.festivaldispoleto.com
IMPERMANENCE: THE VALUE OF FRAGILITY
by Marinella Guatterini
Should one—by chance or by the prompting of this Spoleto dance event—happen upon Essere fragili. Riflessioni sulla vulnerabilità by Joan-Carles Mèlich, it would be a gift not only to Rafael Bonachela, the Catalan choreographer behind Impermanence, but also to ourselves, the spectators. Mèlich’s brief yet profound philosophical work, published by Il Saggiatore in 2024, posits that when we accept pain, illness, and the scars of our bodies, we are faced with a crossroads: either deny the strength inherent in imperfection, or regard it as an ethical opportunity—one that gives value to the life we are living in the hic et nunc, and may even inspire its rebirth.
Impermanence, which premiered in Australia in 2021, embodies and even anticipates Mèlich’s reflections, choosing the latter path. For Sydney Dance Company, the work became a powerful emblem—initially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and later, during its 2024 revival, in response to the devastating wildfires that ravaged the areas surrounding Sydney, fires that continue to pose threats to wildlife, natural environments, and human lives. The piece also pays homage to another searing event: the sudden fire that consumed Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
With Impermanence, Bonachela—a choreographer born in 1972 in La Garriga, near Barcelona, whose mantra is “dance is a universal language that can unite us all”—won not only the hearts of his audiences, but also the respect of Sydney’s political and cultural institutions. He impressed with his sensitivity and the way he championed a choreographic language that, while shaped by formalist rigor, carries beneath its surface a poignant meditation on life—and on the often-overlooked importance of fragility, particularly in an age obsessed with exposed muscle and trembling democracies.
But who is this impassioned and open-hearted Rafael, and why did he choose to leave Europe behind for the distant shores of Australia?
His journey is well-documented. After a celebrated stint in London with the Rambert Dance Company (1992–2004), where he performed works by some of the most revered choreographers in the UK and beyond—Merce Cunningham, Christopher Bruce, Jiří Kylián, Twyla Tharp, Mats Ek, Sue Davies, Ohad Naharin, Karole Armitage, Antony Tudor, among others—Bonachela founded his own ensemble, the Bonachela Dance Company, in 2006. Just a year later, he presented his work at “Milano Oltre,” introducing Italian audiences to both the promise and rawness of a new wave of London-based choreographers—immigrants like himself and Israeli-born Hofesh Shechter.
In Irony of Fate, his then-muse Amy Hollingsworth—now one of many in Australia—stretched her limbs to the limit in a solo crafted for dancers with long, lithe, restless muscles: artists seemingly capable of dancing anything. Her angular lines and arched spine echoed through E2 7SD, a duet set to music by Oswaldo Macià, a work that evoked Contact Improvisation but evolved into something else, with extended limbs and gymnast-like folds—a vocabulary he would refine in Set Boundaries. In that piece, dancers in white tank tops and underwear moved beneath footage of Chinese soldiers guarding nondescript military installations. A voice-over touched on the constraints of Islamic fundamentalism. Beneath the stark bodies in the video, the dancers performed in duos and trios, always segmented by cones of light reminiscent of those used by Russell Maliphant—another key figure of the “English vague,” like the young Bonachela.
A duo framed by a black armchair and a domestic lamp suggested a relationship shifting between the idyllic and the catastrophic, buoyed by a melancholic song del corazón and the music of Astor Piazzolla. Amy Hollingsworth, once again radiant, triumphed over her partner—not in love, but in the resolute clarity of dance.
Bonachela’s trajectory shifted decisively when he began receiving invitations to choreograph for companies around the globe. In 2008, he landed in Sydney and, within six months, was appointed Artistic Director of Sydney Dance Company—love at first sight. Long accustomed to swift relocations and seizing opportunities, he embraced the challenge. From that point on, he devoted himself entirely to choreography, shedding the role of performer. Leading a company of about twenty dancers, he immediately felt the need to pursue a vision, one rooted in exploration.
From 2008 to the birth of Impermanence, Bonachela created one—often two—works per year, collaborating with a growing array of musicians, visual artists, architects, and writers. He revisited key ideas from Merce Cunningham, which had long ignited his imagination: that contemporary dance need not explain or illustrate, but should instead invite audiences to connect empathetically, viscerally—with beating hearts, not just reasoning minds.
The philosophical seed for Impermanence was planted during a visit to Paris, shortly after the Notre-Dame fire. Bonachela was accompanied by Bryce Dessner—who would go on to compose the ballet’s score. They spoke at length about the fragility of the world, of things presumed to be eternal (or nearly so), like monuments, and the tension between beauty and destruction. When Impermanence finally came to life, it bore the imprint of lockdown: a burning need to re-emerge, to be seen, to shine in the sunlight after so much shadow, to reenter the stream of life.
Thus unfolded a sequence of dynamic solos, duets, quartets, and quintets—marked by athleticism, yes, but also moments of deliberate vulnerability and an undercurrent of solitude. The dancers oscillate, responding to one another in a surging, ebbing tide of connection and withdrawal. One must remember the location of Sydney Dance Company’s rehearsal studios, perched close to the ocean, and their home stage at the Sydney Opera House—its iconic architecture inspired by seashells and the city’s maritime heritage.
Italian audiences are still largely unfamiliar with this strong, cohesive ensemble (though they opened the 2023 TorinoDanza Festival), and that performance confirmed both their high technical and expressive caliber, and Bonachela’s deep sensitivity in crafting space and relationships between bodies in motion. Impermanence, by now, surely belongs among the company’s most established repertoire. Yet this “ballet of impermanence and fragility”—let us call it so—holds something more.
Tucked into a corner of Spoleto’s Roman Theatre, a string quartet (the Quatuor Zaïde) will play live. It will feel like a busy city street—musicians grounding the ephemeral with something living, something real: a sublime alignment of bows and bodies. In 65 minutes, Dessner’s music marks a shift from his last collaboration with Bonachela (Frame of Mind, 2015). A founding member of the American rock band The National, and a Grammy Award winner (from The Revenant soundtrack to orchestrating for Paul Simon and Bon Iver), Dessner delivers a bold, driving score demanding both finesse and fervor from the quartet. At times, they are magnetic focal points, yet never pulling attention entirely from the thirteen dancers in motion.
Onstage, a hypnotic quality emerges—in the repetition of dynamics, in Aleisa Jelbart’s earth-toned, genderless costumes. The visceral power of Dessner’s music and Bonachela’s unrelenting choreography are tempered by Damien Cooper’s lighting: half-light and shadows, silhouettes, vibrant shades of cold blue and violet melting into orange and soft red, evoking the flicker of fire. The final movement unfolds against an indigo backdrop flecked with golden shimmer—like walking among falling stars.
The final track, Another World, by composer, singer, and visual artist Anohni, is both moving and melancholic. The music calls the dancers into a gradual deceleration; they entwine and overlay their bodies, suggesting the tender ties we cling to most in moments of deep vulnerability.
And so we return to Joan-Carles Mèlich, and his Essere fragili. Riflessioni sulla vulnerabilità. Mèlich poses a vital question: how can we care for our fragility? His answer mirrors that of Rafael Bonachela: through contact—through the “caress” of one body against another. In recognizing their shared vulnerability, individuals can offer each other solace, confronting fear and suffering through connection. Art, ethics, and community—inseparable.
Rafael Bonachela is a Choreographer, Artistic Director and Curator whose career has seen him successfully span high art and popular culture, working across a range of art forms, including contemporary dance, art installations, pop concerts, musicals, film, commercials and fashion. Bonachela was born in La Garriga near Barcelona (1972) where he began his early dance training before moving to London to join the legendary Rambert Dance Company where he danced from 1992 to 2004. In 2008, Rafael premiered his first full-length production 360° for Sydney Dance Company. Less than six months later he was appointed Artistic Director, making international headlines and heralding a new era in Australian contemporary dance. His vision for the Company embraces a guiding principle that sees commissioned dance works by Australian and International choreographers, most recently Denmark-based Marina Mascarell, alongside his own critically acclaimed creations. In 2022, Cartier announced Rafael as a new Friend of the Maison. From his internationally recognised talent as both a dancer and choreographer, to his commitments supporting a new generation of emerging artists and choreographers, Bonachela embodies values cherished by Cartier: strength of character, virtuosity and the ability to find beauty wherever it may lie. Bonachela’s career has seen him collaborate with many artists in different fields such as composers (Ezio Bosso, Nic Wales, Tarik O’Regan, Matthew Herbert, Marius de Vries, Benjamine Wallfisch), musicians (Sarah Blasco, Katie Noonan, Kylie Minogue, Tina Turner, The Sixteen), orchestras (Australian Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Sydney Symphony), visual artists (Angela de la Cruz, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Lenka Clayton), production desiners (Alan Macdonald, Ralph Myers, Tony Assness, David Fleisher), fashion (Toni Maticevski, Dion Lee), Filmmakers (Daniel Askill, Tim Richardson, Dimitri Basil, Dawn Shadforth, Johan Renck, Clemens Habicht), poets (Sam Webster) and photographers (Pedro Greig, Jez Smith, Hugh Stewart). Bonachela’s work is strong, sober and sharp. The exploration of pure movement is where he finds his unmistakable style. The result is an incandescent dance that springs from the power of movement, in which energy and muscle strength combine with a great emotional sensitivity.
Bryce Dessner is a vital and rare force in new music. He has won Grammy Awards as a classical composer and with the band The National, of which he is guitarist, arranger, and co-principal song-writer. He is regularly commissioned to write for the world’s leading ensembles, from Orchestre de Paris to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and is a high-profile presence in film score composition, with upcoming films including Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo, and John Crowley’s We Live in Time starring Andrew Garfield. Over the years he has garnered great acclaim for his work on films such as Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto and for his music to Netflix’s Fernando Meirelles’s The Two Popes. During the 2024/25 season Bryce Dessner will be Artist in Residence at the National Concert Hall, Dublin and Ars Music Festival at BOZAR, Brussels. In addition to being the creative chair of the Tonhalle Zurich last season, his many past residencies include being one of eight San Francisco Symphony Collaborative Partners, Artist-in-Residence at London’s Southbank Centre and with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Over the 2024/25 season, Dessner’s music will be performed by orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Münchner Philharmoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonie Zuidnederland. Recent major new works include a Piano Concerto premièred by Alice Sara Ott and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in January 2024 and now being performed internationally; a Concerto for Two Pianos premièred by Katia & Marielle Labèque and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; and a Violin Concerto premièred and performed internationally by Pekka Kuusisto. Other major new works include a Trombone Concerto for Jorgen van Rijen commissioned by Dallas Symphony and l’Orchestre National d’Île de France; Voy a Dormir for mezzo soprano Kelley O’Connor and Orchestra of Saint Luke’s and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Skrik Trio for Steve Reich and Carnegie Hall; the ballet No Tomorrow co-written with Ragnar Kjartansson; Wires for Ensemble Intercontemporain; The Forest for large cello ensemble, Gautier Capuçon and Fondation Louis Vuitton; and Triptych (Eyes for One on Another), a major theatre piece integrating the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe and premiered by Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dessner also scored the music – involving full orchestra and a 200-member choir – for the Louis Vuitton show at the Louvre in Paris as part of Paris Fashion Week 2020. In August 2024, Bryce Dessner released Solos (Sony Classical) which showcases his collection of solo instrument pieces in collaboration with some of the world’s leading musicians including Katia Labèque, Anastasia Kobekina, Pekka Kuusisto, Nadia Sirota, Colin Currie and Lavinia Meijer. Dessner’s recordings also include El Chan; St. Carolyn by the Sea (both on Deutsche Grammophon); Aheym, commissioned by Kronos Quartet; Tenebre, an album of his works for string orchestra recorded by Germany’s Ensemble Resonanz and which won a 2019 Opus Klassik award and a Diapason d’Or; When we are inhuman with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Eighth Blackbird (2019) and Impermanence (2021) with Australian String Quartet and which won the Libera award. Also active as a curator, Dessner is regularly requested to programme festivals and residencies around the world at venues such as at the Barbican, Philharmonie de Paris, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and during the 2023-24 season was Creative Chair of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. He co-founded and curates the festivals MusicNOW in Cincinnati, HAVEN in Copenhagen, Sounds from a Safe Harbour and PEOPLE. Bryce Dessner lives in France. Bryce Dessner’s music is published by and available from Chester Music, part of the Wise Music Group.
The Zaïde quartet was created in 2009 and has established itself on the international scene as one of the rare quartets made up entirely of women. The numerous prizes in prestigious international competitions obtained between 2010 and 2012, notably in Bordeaux, Vienna and Beijing (*), establish it as one of the essential chamber music ensembles in the classical musical landscape. It is today recognized for its high standards and continued exploration of the sound spectrum of the quartet. The Zaïde Quartet has been playing for 15 years in the most beautiful halls in the world and recently shared the stage with Martha Argerich, Nelson Goerner, Xavier Philips, Michel Portal and Lise de la Salle. The quartet repertoire is recognized as particularly demanding in the classical world. Thus the Zaïde Quartet founded ISQA (the International String Quartet Academy) in 2021, an international and intergenerational academy in which quartets can exchange and provide necessary technical, musical, physiological and psychological support in a holistic approach. From great masters to young stars, all are invited to research and play together, receive valuable advice and improve in an atmosphere of mutual respect. The musicians also have a special bond with the NoMadMusic label and its artistic director Hannelore Guittet, who has accompanied them since their first recording project and with whom they have already produced seven albums. The quartet is also known for its diverse repertoire, which ranges from classical quartets to contemporary works, including those of Iannis Xenakis, Jonathan Harvey, Wolfgang Rihm and Sofia Gubaidulina. Over the years, the Zaïde quartet has forged close friendly and artistic ties with several composers such as Bryce Dessner, Suzanne Giraud, Francesca Verunelli and Cécile Buchet, from whom it commissioned several pieces. They also collaborate with big names in jazz: Michel Portal, Marion Rampal, Sylvain Rifflet, Yaron Herman and join forces with different companies such as the Sydney Dance Company in the show “Impermanence” with Bryce Dessner’s music. While being part of the heritage passed down by the great figures of the quartet, the four musicians offer interpretations inspired by their “imaginary laboratory”: the connection of sound with the body, artistic risk-taking and interactions with the public. The Zaïde Quartet is an “associated artist” of the Singer-Polignac Foundation and is supported by the City of Dijon, the DRAC Bourgogne Franche-Comté and Indosuez Wealth Management. Urlicht Primal Light
Lighting designer che opera a livello internazionale nei settori del teatro, dell’opera e della danza e porta la sua visione artistica in alcune delle produzioni più prestigiose al mondo. Nel campo della danza, ha collaborato con la Sydney Dance Company per spettacoli tra cui Somos, ab [intra], Impermanence, Cinco, Ocho, Grand, Air and Other Invisible Forces e Orb. Ha lavorato con compagnie internazionali come il Western Australian Ballet (State), Bangarra (Of Earth and Sky), l’Australian Ballet (The Narrative of Nothing, Firebird, Swan Lake), il Universal Ballet (Giselle) e l’Australian Dance Theatre (Birdbrain, Supernature, Habitus, Be Yourself). Ha inoltre firmato le luci per The Frock (Ten Days on the Island Festival), Anity (Tas Dance), Mortal Engine (Chunky Move) e Grey Rhino (Performing Lines). Nel teatro, ha collaborato con il Belvoir Theatre per produzioni come Counting & Cracking (Edinburgh International Festival), Mark Colvin’s Kidney, The Great Fire, Radiance, The Glass Menagerie, Miss Julie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Peter Pan, Private Lives, The Seagull e molte altre. Per la Sydney Theatre Company ha illuminato spettacoli iconici come Disgraced, Orlando, Arcadia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Golden Age, Suddenly Last Summer, The Women of Troy, The Lost Echo e Tot Mom. Ha inoltre lavorato con il Bell Shakespeare (Macbeth, The Tempest) e ha firmato le luci per prestigiose produzioni d’opera, tra cui The Ring Cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Aida e Così Fan Tutte (Opera Australia), oltre a A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera, Lyric Opera Chicago) e The Magic Flute (Lyric Opera Chicago). Il suo contributo al lighting design gli è valso importanti riconoscimenti, tra cui tre Sydney Theatre Awards, tre Green Room Awards e due Australian Production Design Guild Awards.
A renowned set designer, costume designer, and designer, he collaborates with some of the most important theatre, dance, and opera companies in Australia and internationally. Over the course of his career, he has worked with prestigious institutions such as the Sydney Theatre Company, the Sydney Dance Company, and the Belvoir St Theatre, as well as with Opera Australia, Sydney Chamber Opera, and Pinchgut Opera. His stage creations have been acclaimed both in Australia and abroad, helping to bring to life productions of great visual and narrative impact. Among his most recent productions are Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith and Sonia Friedman Productions), RBG: Of Many, One (Sydney Theatre Company), My Brilliant Career (Queensland Ballet), and ab [intra] (Sydney Dance Company).
A Sydney-based costume and set designer, she specializes in design for movement, dance, and interdisciplinary performance.
Her work, characterized by a refined aesthetic sensibility and a deep understanding of the body in motion, has led her to collaborate with some of the most prestigious Australian and international arts companies.
Her collaborations include Sydney Dance Company, The Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Bell Shakespeare, Legs on the Wall, The Australian Theatre for Young People, Singapore Ballet, and the Komische Oper Berlin.
Her costumes have been exhibited at major institutions such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Biennale of Sydney, Gertrude Contemporary, the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, and the TarraWarra Biennial.
Since 2014, she has worked regularly with Sydney Dance Company, designing costumes for highly successful productions including Impermanence (2021) and Lux Tenebris (2016) by Rafael Bonachela, Anima (2016) and WOOF (2019) by Melanie Lane.
In addition, for over ten years, she has overseen the design of costumes and props for New Breed, the company’s annual program dedicated to emerging talent.
Fattoria Vittadini, Maura Di Vietri
Shahar Binyamini
Blanca Li
Circa, Franui Musicbanda
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