Despite the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic, Olivia Ansell’s first Sydney Festival as Director was supposed to represent a fresh start, reaching further and wider across metropolitan Sydney than ever before, and celebrating the city’s cultural diversity. A centrepiece of the program was the Sydney Dance Company’s presentation of Ohad Naharin’s Decadance, which had originally been staged by Batsheva Dance Company in 2000. When word got out that the Israeli Embassy in Australia was sponsoring the event to the tune of $20,000, calls for a boycott by certain members of the artistic community quickly followed, and some 30 acts withdrew from the festival.

Decadance, performed by Sydney Dance Company for Sydney Festival. Photo © Daniel Boud

The situation dissolved into acrimony when reports started spreading that Hamas had praised the boycotters. Australian politicians on both sides of the political spectrum came out against them; an open letter by 120 artists opposing the boycott was released; and some theatre companies, including Belvoir and Darlinghurst Theatre Company, either walked back initial statements about the Israeli Embassy’s sponsorship of SDC, or distanced themselves from the artists making them....