Six Sydney Festival 2015 Hot Dates

This article is sponsored by our partners, Sydney Festival. Image: PUNCTURE.

Ever since Grease, there’s been no doubt that summer lovin’ is the best kind of lovin’ there is. But imagine if Sandy and Danny had had Sydney Festival to spice up the action.

Whether you’re on a first, nail-biting, triple-checking-my-outfit, to-hell-with-it-buying-a-whole-new-outfit kind of date, or the latest of many joint adventures, SydFest has some hot date opportunities on the boil.

GET WICKED WITH LIMBO

The fire-swallowing, though on the scorching side, is definitely not the hottest part of this act. The international LIMBO crew, who sold out their 2014 Sydney Festival season, return with their wild, sexy, wicked take on all-things circus. Expect scary stunts, extreme acrobatics, next-level magic tricks and anatomy-defying contortion that you really shouldn’t try at home (regardless of how potent this date idea might prove), performed to a live score. Composer Sxip Shirey has described his tracking as “a New York brass band marching through New Orleans on its way to an all-night party in Berlin.” So there's that.

January 7-25 at The Aurora Spiegeltent, Festival Village, Hyde Park North. Tickets $62-$79.

HAVE A DREAMY PICNIC UNDER THE STARS FOR SYMPHONY IN THE DOMAIN

To recover from LIMBO, how about a picnic, soundtracked live by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra? It doesn’t get much more romantic, even, curiously, in the company of 100,000 people. Plus, it’s free, so you can seriously impress your date even if you’re not cashed up. (If you are, there’s always the option of going top-shelf on the champagne.) This year’s program takes on a distinctively Australian tone, with the appearance of ARIA Award-winning composer and didgeridoo-player William Barton, who’ll be joining the SSO for his own piece Birdsong at Dusk and the late Peter Sculthorpe’s Beethoven Variations. Between the music, Anita Heiss will be reading poetry and prose.

January 18 in The Domain. Free.

PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES FOR ATOMIC BOMB! THE MUSIC OF WILLIAM ONYEABOR

Show your date you have the moves at what’s shaping up to be the festival’s biggest dance off. The fact that it’s all about William Onyeabor will add an air of mystique. Between 1975 and 1985, the synth hero, who hails from Nigeria, made eight Afro-funk, space-age albums. Then, he not only gave up music but also refused to utter a word about it, ever. Keeping his epic jams and super-grooves alive at Sydney Festival will be a mega, 18-strong, international band, led by Sinkane, Money Mark, Luke Jenner (The Rapture), Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) and Pat Mahoney (LCD Soundsystem), with special guests in the form of Gotye and the Mahotella Queens.

January 16-17 at Enmore Theatre. Tickets $85/77.

TAKE A WALK INTO ANOTHER TIME WITH DISCO DOME

There’s nothing like a bit of time travel to get the chemistry bubbling. With Disco Dome, you and your hopeful friend/confirmed partner get to traverse decades arm in arm, with plenty to see, do and talk about along the way. This part walking tour, part live art, part dance event takes you on a journey through Parramatta as it was back in the '80s. While sipping on cocktails, shaking your booty and exploring back streets, you’ll be surprised with sudden performances and digital/sonic installations. Pack your finest mirror ball earrings.

9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24 January at ICE (Information and Cultural Exchange), Parramatta. Tickets $89.

REMEMBER WHAT FALLING IN LOVE FEELS LIKE AT KISS AND CRY

This one won’t just provide a backdrop to your canoodling; it embraces a hands-on approach to matters of love, involving, well, two hands. And two hands only. In a stage show performed in a teeny-tiny set — and combining poetic ballet, puppetry and live film — an old woman looks back on the romantic encounters that shaped her life. It is presented at Sydney Festival by Belgium's Charleroi Danses and draws on the talents of choreographer Michele Anne De Mey (a founding member of Rosas dance company) and filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael, director of 2009 sci-fi film Mr Nobody.

22-25 January at Carriageworks. Tickets $59-75.

LET SEU JORGE PULL AT YOUR HEARTSTRINGS

Woo your amor in Portuguese by taking him/her along to see Seu Jorge live. His impossibly tender voice has transported him from homelessness in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to international musical success. So imagine what it might do for your romantic aspirations. If you’re a fan of The Life Aquatic, you probably know Jorge's mellifluous tones well. His David Bowie covers provided the soundtrack. And even Bowie was floored, discovering, he said, a "new level of beauty" in his songs after hearing Jorge’s take on them. He’ll be playing an array of his unique interpretations, as well as a bunch of originals, accompanied by a delicious mix of live and electronic Latin and Caribbean beats.

January 10 in The Domain (free) and January 11 at The Star Event Centre. Tickets $45-89.

The Sydney Festival is on from January 8-26. For the full program see festival website.