Sydney Dance Company - Engine - Darwin Festival

Presented as part of Darwin Festival 2026

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

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.

Bringing The Mass Ornament by remarkable Berlin-based Spanish choreographer Fran Diaz comes 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.

Completing 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.