Adelaide Festival Centre to Welcome Sydney Dance Company's De Novo

Internationally renowned Sydney Dance Company is set to return to Adelaide in August 2015 with their groundbreaking work De Novo.

De Novo is a trio of unmissable dance works from three exceptional choreographers, brought to life by Australia's premier contemporary dance ensemble and will have its Adelaide season from 6 - 8 August at Her Majesty's Theatre.

Rafael Bonachela's Emergence acknowledges his enduring fascination with popular culture and his belief in the potential for 'pop' to meaningfully inform and influence the artistic process. For this show Bonachela commissioned composer Nick Wales and internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko - in her first foray into the contemporary dance world, to create an original music score. The result is a stunning raw and instinctual soundscape featuring vocals by Blasko, and a visual spectacle with the Sydney Dance Company performing at their electric and sensual best.

Emergence also celebrates a collaboration between Bonachela and acclaimed Australian fashion designer Dion Lee, who took time out from the world's catwalks to develop an exclusive collection of costumes for the production.

Joyful, intelligent and irreverent, Cacti is the critically acclaimed work of one of Europe's most highly sought-after artists, award-winning Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman. Featuring 16 dancers, a string quartet and a dynamic set - complete with potted cacti, this brilliantly conceived, fresh and engaging theatrical performance celebrates the simple pleasure of dance whilst simultaneously commenting on the audiences' obsessive desire to define and interpret art and performance.

From Adelaide's own Larissa McGowan comes Fanatic, a hilarious high-energy performance set in the lounge room of a disillusioned movie fan who is using YouTube to vent his feelings on the advent of the Alien vs. Predator franchise. The hit of the Spring Dance 2012 Contemporary Women program, this tongue-in-cheek exploration of sci-fi fan culture is pulse-pounding, chest-busting dance action, featuring a trio of Sydney Dance Company dancers at their dramatic best and a soundscape of movie-bytes from two titanic sci-fi blockbusters.

Local dancer Jesse Scales is in her fourth year with Sydney Dance Company and will return to Adelaide to perform in De Novo. Jesse was an Adelaide Festival Centre GreenRoom member in 2009 when she participated in a GreenRoom workshop with New York dance company Complexions. The company was so impressed with this young talent, they invited her to study in New York with them. With the help of the Adelaide Festival Centre's Foundation Jesse achieved this dream. Jesse was recently nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best Female Dancer in Sydney Dance Company's production 'William Forsythe's Quintett'.

Sydney Dance Company is a legendary force in Australian contemporary dance. The Company has performed on the great dance stages of the world, from the Sydney Opera House in Australia, to the Joyce Theatre in New York, the Grand in Shanghai and the Stanislavsky in Moscow.

The Company maintains an ensemble of 16 exceptional dancers actively creating and touring new work under the Artistic Directorship of Rafael Bonachela. Bonachela started with the company in 2009 and over the past five years has cemented the company's reputation as a creative powerhouse, with an acclaimed group of dancers presenting new work by Bonachela and other choreographers, designers, composers and musicians.

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