In a pre-show chat with his opening night audience Sydney Dance Company’s artistic director Rafael Bonachela described Current in three words: energy, power and joy. I’d add intimacy to the list. Co-operation and collaboration too. The cleverly named Current is a highly charged group hug.

OUR(SELF) (Azzam Mohamed). Photo © Daniel Boud

The venue is SDC’s Neilson Studio, a flexible black-box space right at the end of SDC’s buzzy Walsh Bay headquarters. To find it you walk through the café, past studios where public dance classes are underway and there it is. It’s hard to believe SDC has been on Wharf 4/5 for 40 years but it’s celebrating that milestone right now. Some of us can remember the before times; these times are better.

For the Current (and current) performances the Neilson is dominated by a low, raised rectangular stage. There are two rows of seats for an audience of about 150 that sits only centimetres away from the performance area.

It’s not exactly touching distance (which is wise) but if a dancer is right at the edge of the stage, it’s possible to make strong eye contact (wonderful). The point is that being...