About a quarter of the way through his new work momenta choreographer Rafael Bonachela inserts an extended, extremely beautiful pas de deux for Naiara de Matos and Piran Scott. It brings to mind the central duo Bonachela made in 2018 for the much admired and much travelled ab [intra].

 It’s not that the choreography looks the same. It’s the spirit and impact of it. The love in it. In fact there is a lot about momenta that reminds one of ab [intra] although not all to the benefit of the newer piece.

The clue is in the names. ab [intra] means from within and the dance took its audience to an absorbing world of moods and mysteries. You wanted to lean in. momenta (not sure about Bonachela’s penchant for lower-case titles) takes its name from the plural of momentum. The driver is motion itself rather than what it might mean. Motion rather than emotion.

Naiara de Matos and Piran Scott in Sydney Dance Company’s momenta. Photo © Pedro Greig

There’s certainly a great deal of exquisite movement in momenta – too much, really, even though the piece lasts just 70 minutes...