Her feet explore the fine cloth of the table beneath, adorned with vases of black-stained roses. Clad in an elegant Bianca Spender dress and sparkling Jan Logan jewels, she descends from the table, glides across the concrete floor, twirling, spinning, the ruffles of her dress flailing in the momentum of her movement like a tangerine dream.

Five sets of eyes watch her every move, captivated by this Sydney Dance Company veteran.

These dance aficionados are among 15 passionate committee members drawn from the worlds of business, finance, media, design and non-profits who have gathered for the Wentworth Courier’s cover story shoot ahead of their highly anticipated 10th Dance Noir fundraiser on September 14.

Barton is the centrepiece today, but come September 14 when the celebrations take place at the Hordern Pavilion, the dance floor will belong to everyone.

Ask any of the Dance Noir fundraising committee why they pour their time — and their money — into the SDC and they’ll tell you that if sport feeds the heart of a nation, the arts feed its soul, with dance right at the centre of the latter.

For 50 years the SDC has pirouetted its way through its home city, regional and metropolitan Australia and the world, galvanised by the visionary dancer Graeme Murphy in the 20th century when it established itself as one of the world’s premier contemporary dance companies via blockbuster shows such as Some Rooms and Berlin and through costume collaborations with design luminaries such as Akira Isogawa.

But 10 years ago with a lack of financial backing, the SDC’s future was in doubt.

In response, a founding committee dedicated to raising much-needed capital was born of eastern suburbs movers and shakers including Pamela Bartlett, a former senior executive at American Express and founder of the Lou’s Place women’s refuge in Potts Point, Terry Kaljo, director of Contemporary Hotels who has graced power boards such as the Royal Hospital for Women Foundation and the Taronga Foundation, and Vitek Czernuszyn, vodka entrepreneur, who is married to media veteran Deborah Thomas — all of whom appear on the Wentworth Courier’s cover this week alongside SDC artistic director Rafael Bonachela and Jan Logan, who joined the committee in 2016.

With events guru Peter Reeve and philanthropist Jane McCallum, who is deputy CEO of the St Vincent’s Curran Foundation, the founding members of the Dance Noir committee vowed to throw a party that would emphasise the “fun” in “fundraising” and secure the future for their beloved dance institution.

“We started this journey at a time when the SDC was close to closing with a lack of funds,” recalls Reeve, who is committee co-chair. “We came in and fought to bring the SDC back and make it

great — and make it recognised for decades of excellence.”

Reeve says the secret behind why this fundraiser attracts such a diverse and high-profile crowd from prime ministers and premiers to social high-flyers to everyday fans of dance, is an “amazing and networked committee and team at SDC — filled with hand-selected people who talk about SDC as if we own it, our event, our company, our season, our dancers — our SDC, and we beam with pride”.

McCallum describes Reeve as “the best creative in the country, producing Australia’s party of the year”. Since the first Dance Noir held at Walsh Bay, the SDC’s spiritual home, the committee has grown to include such eastern suburbs luminaries as Logan, whose jewellery showroom has been a Double Bay landmark since 1989, philanthropist Alexa Haslingden, businesswoman and arts patron Jane Clifford, former model, presenter and social circuit regular Michelle Walsh, and publicist Sally Burleigh.

This year, Dance Noir — with the bold 10th anniversary theme of Decadence and Met Ball-esque dress code of “pop couture” (think Elton John, Lady Gaga, Cher and other outlandish dressers from the music scene) — has a target in the order of $750,000.

“We are all ruthless about money — we don’t spend a cent unless we have to — it’s a team of workers,” says Reeve.

“We seduce, beg and push all of our friends and suppliers to the limit, we don’t hire a company to source prizes, we lay out the porches, organise the hires, pay on the tablecloths and fold the napkin — we cut up flowers and load vases in the toilets and we all work. This is what unites us — we won’t give a cent away that we can do ourselves — because it’s a fundraiser — and that is what we are there to do.”

Sydney has its Silver Ball and its Gold Dinner, so Dance Noir’s theme is dramatic black, the embodiment of red carpet glamour. Previous themes have included last year’s Earth, Wind & Fire, 2017’s Interstellar, 2016’s Wild, while other thematic highlights have included Latin Fever, Mirrorball, Return to Versailles and The Wharf Meets Warhol.

Spanish-born Rafael Bonachela was enticed to Australia from London to become the SDC’s much-adored artistic director in 2009 after establishing the Bonachela Dance Company (BDC) in 2006, following 14 years with the legendary Rambert Dance Company. Bonachela — who has added to the company’s legendary repertoire with works such as his collaboration with Kaldor Public Art Projects and even this year’s 50th anniversary debut Cinco, with costumes designed by Spender — says Dance Noir is critical to extending the reach of the company.

“Dance Noir is an opportunity to support the arts, and more specifically assist in making dance accessible to all … (it) helps to provide international and national touring for the company, it helps to enable us to run workshops for kids in country towns and helps us to continue to deliver … exceptionally high standard of performances our audiences have come to embrace.”

While the event is a sit-down for 500-plus guests with all the trappings of a top-flight fundraising gala — lucrative auction items in past years have included trips to the Med, Mexico and Los Angeles; a holiday in a chateau in France donated by international patron, Dame Darcey Bussell, and experiences at stunning properties on the South Coast and Byron Bay — there is a certain informality to the party that makes it unique.

Bonachela nominates his favourite Dance Noir moment to be an annual spin on the tiles with fashion royalty. “I always love my end-of-the-night dance with the sublime Carla Zampatti on the dance floor,” he says.

For executive director Anne Dunn, who has been at the helm of the SDC for 10 years, it’s the sheer showmanship and the chance to watch the dancers perform in an intimate setting — “disco routines right through to the male dancers dressed as bullfighters while an opera singer sang Bizet’s Carmen”.

With an eye to the bottom line, she is eagerly anticipating this year’s auction, for which Jan Logan has donated a stunning pair of Australian South Sea Pearl and Citrine 18ct gold earrings.

Keen to spread the word across the community, Dunn stresses that Dance Noir is as much for the uninitiated as it is for the devotees — for some of the high-powered guests the September spectacle is their first introduction to contemporary dance and to the SDC.

“We very much see it as a ‘friendraiser’ as well as a fundraiser,” she says. “Almost 25 per cent of our annual turnover is generated through private philanthropy and corporate partnerships; this is so important to help us achieve our vision.

“It’s really important to us that everything that we do is accessible to as many sections of our community as possible.”

Bonachela starts planning the $400-a-head soiree almost as soon as the champagne glasses are cleared, heels removed from weary feet and the DJ hangs up his headphones. Dancers rehearse the tightly choreographed routines for the night while they are on tour throughout the year — practising anywhere from regional venue foyers to European airports.

“We usually have five pre-professional year dancers perform, but this year we are lucky to have all 26!” says Bonachela, adding that the 17 company dancers will join them to perform the “fun, sultry, sexy showstoppers”.

“The fabulous Kevin Chen (who starred in our Mardi Gras float this year) will also be giving a very special performance. And this year, the venue is the legendary Hordern Pavilion, which has the DNA of a great night out built into its walls!”

The committee is adamant its dual agenda is to raise capital and have fun. It’s evident that Dance Noir is serious about fundraising without taking itself too seriously.

“What separates us from other fundraisers is that we also just happen to be ‘the best dance party of the year’,” says Bartlett, who shares co-chair duties with Reeve.

“We build a huge stage in the middle of the room where the dancers perform throughout the evening.

“After dinner we clear the stage and it becomes a disco for everyone to enjoy. Rafael and the dancers then return to the stage and join with us all to dance the night away.”

Adds Kaljo: “I’ll be competing for the most outrageous costume and be the first on the dance floor at the end of the night and if I make a goose of myself, who cares … it’s all for a very worthy cause!”

For more, visit: https://www.sydneydancecompany.com/support-us/vip-events/