Contemporary dance companies are about the new and now, which means they are far less likely to repeat repertoire than classical companies do with all their Nutcrackers and Swan Lakes. But with a work as powerful as Rafael Bonachela’s ab [intra](“from within”), why not? Take into consideration practical reasons to do with COVID-19 interruptions – creating quality work takes time – and the fact that ab [intra]was recently taken to France for Sydney Dance Company’s first international tour in three years and the programming makes sense.

ab [intra]

ab [intra], Sydney Dance Company, 2022. Photo © Pedro Greig

As the curtain fell on ab [intra]’s opening performance, which the audience greeted with a prolonged and noisy standing ovation, someone behind me observed they hadn’t remembered the work looking quite like this. It was probably because most of the dancers were new to it, her friend replied, and she’s right. Rafael Bonachela made ab [intra]in 2018 in association with the dancers he had before him and as he notes in the program for the current performances,...