EVERY STEP YOU TAKE

Fresh from Sydney Dance Company's 2025 international tour, Artistic Director Rafael Bonachela speaks on his new work Spell, the places that shape him, and finding strength in vulnerability.

- INTERVIEW BY ELEANOR EDSTROM

When I meet Rafael Bonachela over video call, he is - in conversation, as in dance - sharply expressive.

I shouldn't be surprised; the choreographer has spent decades distilling feeling into form. Born in a regional town in Spain, the now globally renowned artist began his professional journey in 1992 with London's prestigious Rambert Dance Company. Since then, his contemporary dance career has spanned collaborations from the étoile dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet to Kylie Minogue, Tina Turner, Hugo Boss and Cartier. Since joining the Sydney Dance Company as Artistic Director in 2009, Bonachela’s work - precise, corporeal and dynamic - has helped bring Australian dance into sharper international focus.

Now, in the lead-up to his new work Spell (running for two weeks from 22 October at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Sydney as part of Continuum, a triple bill with works by Stephen Page and Tra Mi Dinh), the choreographer opens up about process, euphoric moments from a creative residency in Italy, and why dance is not something to be understood.

Signature: I understand you grew up in the small Spanish town of La Garriga in the dying years of Franco's Spain. How did that context impact you as a young boy who was interested in dance?