Rafael Bonachela is a Spanish-born, Australian

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

notable for work across a range of art forms, including

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

art installations Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

, pop concerts,

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

and

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

. He is recognised for his physical movement style of contemporary dance based on communicating emotions through the human form. Since 2009 he has been Artistic Director of the

Sydney Dance Company Sydney Dance Company is a contemporary dance company in Australia. The company has performed on stages around the world, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Joyce Theater in New York, the Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, and the ...

Walsh Bay Walsh Bay is a bay within Port Jackson, about south of the suburb McMahons Point. It is named after Henry Deane Walsh, Engineer-in-chief of the Sydney Harbour Trust. Walsh Bay is officially defined as that body of water that stretches from th ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Early Years

Bonachela was born in

La Garriga La Garriga is a municipality in the province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The municipality covers an area of and the population in 2014 was 15,762. Notable natives and residents * The Catalan missionary priest in Cam ...

, a small town 45 km north of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in the

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

region of Spain, the eldest of four brothers. At the age of 15 he started dance training at Escola de Dansa Cadaqués Centre in Barcelona. At the age of seventeen he joined the Spanish troupe Lanònima Imperial where he performed and toured across Europe in productions of "Castor I Polux" and "Kairos". In 1990 he relocated to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

to train at the

London Studio Centre The London Studio Centre, in North Finchley, London, is a British dance and theatre school providing courses in classical ballet, contemporary dance, jazz dance, and musical theatre. It is accredited by the CDMT, Council for Dance, Drama and Mus ...

Works

For the Sydney Dance Company, Bonachela has created multiple new works, including ''we unfold'' (2009), ''6 Breaths'' (2010), ''Are We That We'' (2010), ''Irony Of Fate'' (2010), ''Soledad'' (2010), ''LANDforms'' (2011), ''The Land of Yes and the Land of No'' (2011–12), ''2 One Another'' (2012), ''Project Rameau'' (2012), ''Project Rameau'' (joint with

Richard Tognetti Richard Leo Tognetti AO (born 4 August 1965) is a leading Australian musician recognised internationally as a violin soloist, ensemble player, leader, composer and arranger, conductor and artistic director. He is currently artistic dire ...

)(2012–13), ''13 Rooms'' (2013), ''Emergence'' (2013), ''Les Illuminations'' (2013), ''2 in D Minor'' (2014), ''Inside There Falls'' (Installation by

Mira Calix Chantal Francesca Passamonte (28 October 1969 – 25 March 2022), known professionally as Mira Calix ( ), was a South African-born, British-based audio and visual artist and musician signed to Warp Records. Although her earlier music is almost ...

)(2014), ''Interplay'' (2014), ''Louder Than Words'' (2014), ''Scattered Rhymes'' (2014), ''Frame of Mind'' (2015), ''CounterMove'' (2016), ''Lux Tenebris'' (2016), ''Nude Live'' (2017), ''Ocho'' (2017), ''Orb'' (2017), ''ab

ntra The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) is a broad-based coalition of American horse racing interests consisting of leading thoroughbred racetracks, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with incr ...

' (2018) and ''Impermanence'' (2021).

Collaborators

Bonachela has collaborated with many artists across his career at

Rambert Dance Company Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

, and as Artistic Director at Bonachela Dance Company and

. These include composers

Ezio Bosso Ezio Bosso (; 13 September 1971 – 14 May 2020) was an Italian composer, pianist, double bass player, and conductor. He composed film scores such as '' Un amore'' and Gabriele Salvatores' '' Io non ho paura'', and ballets which were perform ...

Bryce Dessner Bryce David Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, as well as a member of the rock band the National. Dessner's twin brother Aaron is also a member of the group. Together they write the music, in coll ...

, Nick Wales; artist

, musicians

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

Sarah Blasko Sarah Elizabeth Blaskow (born 23 September 1976), known professionally as Sarah Blasko, is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. From April 2002, Blasko developed her solo career after fronting Sydney-based band, Acqui ...

Katie Noonan Katie Anne Noonan (born 2 May 1977) is an Australian singer-songwriter. In addition to a successful solo career encompassing opera, jazz, pop, rock and dance, she was the singer in the band George and remains the singer in the band Elixir; perf ...

; writer Samuel Webster; ensembles

Australian String Quartet The Australian String Quartet (ASQ) is a chamber music group founded in 1985 and based at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. It delivers an artistic program of performances, workshops, commissions, digital content and education projects ...

Australian Chamber Orchestra The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) was founded by cellist John Painter in 1975.Verghis, Sharon"Bach with more bite pays off" ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 2 September 2005. Richard Tognetti was appointed Lead Violin in 1989 and subsequently appo ...

; and designers Tony Assness, Benjamin Cisterne, David Fleischer; and venues such as the

Art Gallery of NSW The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

Roslyn Packer Theatre The Roslyn Packer Theatre Walsh Bay is a theatre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The theatre is on Hickson Road at Walsh Bay, west of The Wharf Theatre, opposite Pier 6/7 on Walsh Bay. It seats up to 896 people. Originally named as the Syd ...

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

and

Carriageworks Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being used for filming, festivals, fa ...

Reception

For his work ''Soledad'', Bonachela won both the Premio Guglielmo Ebreo and the independent critic's prize at the Biennale Danza e Italia in

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

in 2006. He received the

Australian Dance Award The Australian Dance Awards recognise excellence and promote dance in Australia. They are awarded under the auspices of the Australian Dance Council (Ausdance) for performance, choreography, design, dance writing, teaching and related professions. ...

for choreography for ''6 Breaths'' in 2011, and again for ''2 One Another'' in 2013. In 2012, Bonachela was named and one of the (sydney) magazine's Top 100 Most Influential People. In February 2013, Rafael received the Officer's Cross of the

Order of Civil Merit The Order of Civil Merit ( es, Orden del Mérito Civil) was established by King Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1926. The order recognizes "the civic virtue of officers in the service of the Nation, as well as extraordinary service by Spanish and fore ...

by His Majesty the King of Spain. In the same year, he was named the Dance Australia Critics Survey winner for 'Most Interesting Australian Artist'. He was also named winner of the dance category for

The Monthly ''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...

's 2013 Arts Awards. Bonachela was nominated for the 2009, and 2014

Helpmann Award The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical th ...

for Best Choreography in a Dance or Physical Theatre Production. He won it in 2015.

References

External links