Dance / Momenta, Sydney Dance Company. At The Playhouse, until June 22. Reviewed by SAMARA PURNELL.

Moonlight, illuminating flesh with a silvery glow, gives way to morning light. A cloud of smoke descends on the ensemble of bodies moving together and dissipates throughout the performance, creating an ethereal, serene, astrological world, drawing the audience into the captivating serenity that is Momenta. 

SDC artistic director Raphael Bonachela was inspired to create Momenta as a piece exploring cycles of time, force movement, space and a moment between people, a moment of emotional encounters.

Costume and set designer Elizabeth Gadsby has the dancers appear almost nude, in unobtrusive, flimsy, earthy and flesh-coloured leotards, fitted shorts and tops, creating a timeless and placeless look, a raw and innocent existence to be explored.

Bonachela’s choreography is outstanding. With the majority of the ensemble on stage for most of the performance, it’s not just the connections, engagement and interactions between dancers that impress, but the avoided ones, as the group cleverly ducks, weaves and slides around each other, executing the choreography with absolute perfection and impeccable timing.

The use of circular movements is a recurring dance motif, from round kicks, to gliding, sweeping, circular partner work. There appears to be the anticipation of contact, rather than the unexpected, although the momentum and result is the unknown. Mostly, this is harmless, curious contact although in the male pas de deux there is an element of tension, a power struggle present.

One body was displaced by two, or three, or a couple dispersed by an individual. Emily Seymour’s solo work was outstanding as was a pas de deux between Naiara de Matos and Piran Scott, the highlight of the show. Their effortless and creative lifts, catches and falls, the ability to just stop still and appear weightless in space, before gliding across the stage like ice skaters embodied innocence, purity and love. It was just exquisite.

Playful and bendy movements, with continual back and forth momentum was performed to a score of plucky strings and some of the music called to mind pas de deux from classic ballets such as Swan Lake. Nick Wales has composed a soundscape of strings, ethereal voice, and subtle percussion creating a melodic, soothing and beautiful musical landscape for the dancers to explore and the audience to sink in to.

The lighting design by Damien Cooper was incredible and played an important character in Momenta. A small, circular rig of spotlights slowly ascended, at times confining the dancers to a small circle of light or almost disappearing, allowing the entire space to be utilised. The whole stage area had been opened up, adding to the feeling of universality, space and blurring the lines between dancers and their surroundings, including the audience. The spotlights gave occasional bursts of light, the red being quite unexpected. The rig also gave the appearance of a spaceship of sorts, benignly drawing the dancers in, perhaps guiding them home, or allowing them to stay behind… it was something to ponder on throughout the performance.

A slight dip in energy was perceived momentarily, after a marathon effort by the dancers, most of whom are quite new to the Sydney Dance Company. Toward the end of the performance, the males reappeared topless, bar two, begging the question as to why are not all of them topless? Raw sexual energy emanated from the male dancers.

An unexpected and unwarranted flutter of silver confetti that fell around the dancers near the end of the performance changed the direction of the narrative, breaking the atmosphere that had been created over the last hour or so. Was this the disintegration of the light source? Could it signify oblivion? Was the concept of momentum literally being brought into a nightclub, or an orgy, that had peaked and now saw the dancers spent and lying in the aftermath? While it looked pretty, shimmering in silver light, this effect seemed misplaced and brought the audience back to a tangible reality, unsure it was a place it wanted to be.

The gentle sound of wind accompanied a solo dancer, executing angular movements and gestures, drawn towards the lights, which slowly descended upon him. A sadness lingered over the ending. A death, an exhaustion, a rest or a relinquishing. Perhaps a homecoming.

Former SDC dancer and current rehearsal associate Charmene Yap spoke before the performance about the program (as most are only online these days) saying that Momenta was not just about people moving but about moving people.

With the exceptional individual and combined elements of choreography, execution, lighting and music, Momenta certainly moves people. Creating a symbiosis of movement, space and time and timelessness in endless space, this beautiful production leaves a lasting impression.