Sydney Dance Company - Engine

About

See Engine before it goes to the Opera House!

The Art House Presents
Sydney Dance Company's
Engine
A Triple Bill Featuring:

Love Lock by Melanie Lane
The Mass Ornament by Fran Diaz
The Journey Itself is Home by Rafael Bonachela

Engine unites three extraordinary choreographers; Rafael Bonachela, Fran Diaz and Melanie Lane, for an exhilarating performance that promises bold, fearless dance.

Opening the bill is acclaimed choreographer Melanie Lane’s Love Lock, a re-imagined folk dance of the future, drawing upon collective experiences of diverse cultures, an accelerating world and disappearing lands. Love Lock celebrates the binding ability of dance to move, warn and empower, showcasing costume design by celebrated Australian fashion designer Akira Isogawa, layered with texture and colour, and a score composed by UK electronic artist Clark.

Bringing The Mass Ornament by remarkable Berlin-based Spanish choreographer Fran Diaz to Australia for the first time, this hypnotic work set to the music of Henryk Górecki reimagines Siegfried Kracauer’s seminal 1927 essay. Diaz compellingly transforms the concept of mass movement into an exploration of connection and collectivity, where individuality coexists, not in opposition, but in dialogue.

Closing the evening, Rafael Bonachela presents The Journey Itself is Home, a new work featuring music by Grammy Award-winning composer Bryce Dessner and inspired by 17th-century Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō.

Please note: Melanie Lane’s piece Love Lock was performed as part of Spellbound in November 2025.

Stay post-show for complimentary nibbles and a chance to meet the dancers. The bar will remain open.

_{The Sydney Dance Company 2026 National Tour has been assisted by the Sydney Dance Company Touring Fund well as the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.}
_{Engine Tour presenting partner -The Art House, Wyong.}
_{Fran Diaz’s The Mass Ornament is generously supported by Sydney Dance Company’s Visionary Patron, the Clegg Foundation. The Mass Ornament was commissioned by Hessisches Staatsballet and performed in Australia with its kind permission.}
_{Love Lock was originally supported as part of Sydney Dance Company’s TwoFold season, by Visionary Patron, the Clegg Foundation. Touring Fund well as the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.}

Love Lock Choreographer

Melanie Lane

Bio

Melanie is an Australian choreographer and performer of European/Javanese heritage working between Naarm (Melbourne) and Ngunnawal/Ngambri country (Canberra). She is one of Australia’s leading choreographic voices with commissions from Australasian Dance Collective, Dance North, Chunky Move, Sydney Dance Company, Schauspiel Leipzig and West Australian Ballet (among others).

Love Lock Composer

Clark

Bio

Clark has worked with music and sound for 16 years. Signed at an early age to the British indie label Warp Records, he has to date released nine albums as well as a multitude of EPs and singles. His last studio album, the eponymously titled Clark, was rated as Best New Music by Pitchfork. It was followed by an intense and extensive worldwide tour of his blistering live show, which took in the festivals: Pitchfork Chicago, Movement Detroit, Melt Berlin, Field Day London, Taico Japan, Red Park Moscow, MoMA New York and Mutek Mexico, amongst many others.

Love Lock Lighting and Set Designer

Damien Cooper

Bio

Damien Cooper works internationally across theatre, opera and dance.
Damien’s dance credits for Sydney Dance Company include Somos, Ascent, Resound, ab [intra], Impermanence, Cinco, Ocho, Grand, Air and Other Invisible Forces, Orb, momenta and Love Lock. Other dance credits include Baleen for Adelaide Festival, State for Western Australian Ballet, Of Earth and Sky for Bangarra, IDK for Force Majeure, The Narrative of Nothing, Firebird and Swan Lake for Australian Ballet, Giselle for Universal Ballet, Birdbrain, Supernature, Habitus and Be Your Self for Australian Dance Theatre, The Frock for Ten Days on the Island Festival, Affinity for Tas Dance, Mortal Engine for Chunky Move and Grey Rhino for Performing Lines.

Love Lock Costume Designer

Akira Isogawa

Bio

Akira Isogawa is one of Australia’s most celebrated and critically acclaimed designers.
Born in Kyoto Japan, Akira moved to Sydney in 1986 studying fashion design at the Sydney Institute of Technology. Akira is renowned for his contemporary aesthetic, drawing inspiration from traditional Japanese design. Debuting in 1996 at Australian Fashion Week Akira continues to present his collections to international embrace. Akira’s powerful creative force has seen him collaborate across multiple platforms including designing costumes for the Australian Ballet and Sydney Dance Company and designing for Blunt Umbrellas and Designer Rugs, to name a few.