IF you’re confronted by a street sign. Do you do what it tells you to, or not?

Sydney Dance Company’s director Rafael Bonachela is like most of us – sometimes he says yes to signs, sometimes he says no.

Signs, and how we react to them, have been the inspiration for “The Land of Yes & The Land of No”, created in 2009 for Bonachela’s London company with just six dancers.

We’ll be seeing a completely new production of the work with an augmented cast of 13-14 dancers, though the music by Ezio Bosso will be exactly the same and the slightly larger set is still by Alan Macdonald, known for his work on films such as “The Queen” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”.

Bonachela says it may sound very abstract, but it’s definitely not.

Take the simple roundabout, beloved of all Canberrans. He’s devoted a goodly part of the work to it, but in the ballet “going round in circles” becomes a metaphor for the love triangle, performed by two males and one female dancer.

“The Land of Yes & The Land of No”, Canberra Theatre, June 28-30, bookings to 6275 2700.

PHOTO: Natalie Allen and Chen Wen in Sydney Dance Company’s “The Land of Yes & The Land of No”. Photo by Jez Smith