Rafael Bonachela is a Spanish-born, Australian

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

notable for work across a range of art forms, including

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, 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 stron ...

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

, 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 known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

and

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

. 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. They have performed at the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Joyce Theater in New York, the Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, and the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow. His ...

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 States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Early years

Bonachela was born in

La Garriga La Garriga () is a municipality in the Provinces of Spain, province of Province of Barcelona, Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The municipality covers an area of and the population in 2014 was 15,762. Notable natives and re ...

, a small town 45 km north of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

in the

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to train at the

London Studio Centre 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 Musical ...

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 direct ...

)(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. She also worked as Warp's press office ...

)(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 performe ...

Bryce Dessner Bryce David Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, and 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 collabo ...

, Nick Wales; artist

, musicians

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

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 Acquie ...

Katie Noonan Katie Anne Noonan (born 2 May 1977) is an Australian singer and songwriter. In addition to a successful solo career encompassing opera, jazz, pop, rock and dance, she was the singer in the bands George and Elixir; she has also performed with he ...

; 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) is an Australian orchestra focused on chamber music based in Sydney. History The Australian Chamber Orchestra was founded by cellist John Painter in 1975.Verghis, Sharon"Bach with more bite pays off" ''T ...

; 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 import ...

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 S ...

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

and

Carriageworks Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Carriage Workshops in Redfern, New South Wales, Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being use ...

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 (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

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 Royal Order of Civil Merit (; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OMC) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bestowed by the Kingdom of Spain, alongside the Order of Charles III (established in 1771) and the Order ...

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 Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical theatre ...

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

References

External links