Review: Sydney Dance Company's Ascent is a 'breathless' triumph

They flit across the stage as windswept leaves, coalesce into a single many-armed being and robotically jerk in rigid unison. At times it becomes almost impossible to distinguish them from emotion taking a bodily form.

In witnessing Sydney Dance Company's latest production, Ascent, that piercing sense of awe descends - you grow incredulous at the sight of movement becoming a miracle.

Breathlessly performing at Princess Theatre on Wednesday night, the country's great contemporary dance troupe received a deserved standing ovation for its new, nationally touring show.

READ MORE: 'Only a love tap': Man caused $20k dental damage in unprovoked attack

A combination of three disparate performances - The company's artistic director Rafael Bonachela's I Am-ness; Spanish choreographer Marina Mascarell's The Shell, A Ghost, The Host & The Lyrebird; and Forever & Ever by Antony Hamilton - Ascent is an extraordinary achievement.

Opening with Bonachela's piece, the performers sweep across the stage to Latvian composer Pteris Vasks' Lonely Angel. A sensuous connection grows between dancers and audience.

Smoke seeps out across the stage to fill the theatre, the audience enshrouded as if they were an extension of the performance - of the I-am-ness, as Bonachela calls it.

Effortlessly they lift each other through changing lighting tones - designed by the renowned Damien Cooper - their pale bodies hypnotic. It is a liquid performance, like a dream where every inhale and exhale from the performers is heard - and felt.

READ MORE: Woman charged with serious drug offences after ice seizure

Of the three performances, though, Mascarell's The Lyrebird is the most elevating.

The dancer, tasked with working amid ropes and billowing sails, move as if they themselves are caught in the wind.

The diaphanous clothing and billowing sails created by set and costume designers Lauren Brincat and Leah Giblin are mesmerising. It is indescribably hypnotic and balletic.

The enchanting dance is like watching leaves blow in the wind and then be caught in a maelstrom.

The accompanying birdsong-like music to the piece composed by Nick Wales can at times sooth, or crescendo in a fire-bell tone that brings the performance to a frenetic height.

READ MORE: Cattle rustler pleads guilty to stealing dairy cows worth $500k

The final piece is Hamilton's Helpmann award winning Forever & Ever, a strangely funny, futurist vision of contemporary dance that could be described as "ultra-modern" and cyberpunk.

It's costuming unpacks like a Russian babushka doll, designed by Paula Levis to align with a concept of infinite outfits, while its soundtrack - produced by Hamilton's brother Julian, of the Australian mega-pop band The Presets - is a thrumming repetition of bass.

Each bill, so different from the other, stands on their own as total choreographic experiences; yet they are somehow strangely complimentary.

Ascent accomplishes its goal: it gives rise to dance and movement as a miracle.

Why not have your say? Write a letter to the editor here:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: