Compelling tribute stays true to Britten Juliette Barton and Thomas Bradley get physical in Les Illuminations, choreographed to Benjamin Britten's song cycle. Picture: Peter Greig Source: Supplied DANCE Les Illuminations Sydney Dance Company. Musicians of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Choreographer: Rafael Bonachela. Conductor: Roland Peelman. Studio, Sydney Opera House, August 28. IN his tribute to British composer Benjamin Britten, Sydney Dance Company artistic director Rafael Bonachela has created new dance works to two of his early compositions: the Simple Symphony for string orchestra and the song cycle Les Illuminations. For Bonachela, expressions of love animate his choreographic responses to the music. The Simple Symphony was all sweetness and innocence whereas Les Illuminations walked down the darker path of experience. Bonachela and his production team staged their Britten tribute in the cosy confines of the Opera House Studio. A T-shaped stage created a rectangular, fashion-show-like catwalk for the dancers, with the musicians set up behind them. The sheer physicality of the dancing was almost overwhelming in this intimate setting. Designer Toni Maticevski's costumes cleverly responded to the ideas of innocence and experience: pale, skin-coloured outfits for the Simple Symphony; tastefully suggestive black in Les Illuminations. So did Benjamin Cisterne's lighting designs. Brilliant white light dominated the former while shadows, spotlights and periodically subdued hues established a brooding atmosphere. Inspired by the poems of volatile boy-genius Arthur Rimbaud, Britten's Les Illuminations song cycle is an intriguing mix of acerbic harmonies and poignant lyricism. Initially, vocalist Katie Noonan and the Sydney Symphony musicians took a cool, restrained approach. Noonan's pure, crystalline timbre and the string players' measured tempos and soft-grained sounds focused on the music's delicate, slightly astringent beauty. However, their performance grew in intensity as Noonan found a richer array of tone colours. Bonachela's choreographic trajectory matched the musical temperature. In the first few numbers the dancers had little direct physical contact, establishing a deliberately unsettling mood alternating between alienation and titillation. Gradually, physical contact became integral as a series of lifts, interlinked gestures and passionate embraces established a lingering sense of longing and desire. The final two same-sex duets were a clever nod to the sexual orientations of poet and composer alike. For the Simple Symphony, Bonachela took the titles of the four movements very literally in his choreography and it worked. In Playful Pizzicato, the quartet of dancers generated a whirling circle of teasing flirtation underpinned by the musicians' piquant pizzicato undertow. Janessa Dufty and Bernhard Knauer's lively, light-hearted dancing in the opening Boisterous Bouree and closing Frolicsome Finale moved seamlessly to the natural rhythms of the music. Similarly, in the Sentimental Sarabande, Andrew Crawford and Fiona Jopp's graceful duet swayed to the ebb and flow of the crescendos and decrescendos, creating the evening's most compelling moment. Repeated tonight and tomorrow night. Tickets: $39-$59. Duration: 45 minutes, no interval.