Chunky Move: Margins
Celebrating its 25th anniversary in a pandemic year, with no live performances, has afforded Chunky Move’s Artistic Director Antony Hamilton the opportunity to reflect on the dance company’s history of ambitious experimentation and intuitive storytelling.
Image credit: Chunky Move, Black Marrow, 2019. Photo: Pround Mother Pictures
For an organisation that has never done anything by the book, is a 25-year anniversary any more significant than a 26th or 27th? Chunky Move – one of Australia’s foremost contemporary dance companies – has marked a quarter century of genre-defying work embodying experimentation, dialogue and collaboration. This anniversary, however, is not simply a celebration of Chunky Move’s chronicled performance history from
a single perspective. It’s an opportunity to recognise the tapestry of diverse voices, ideas and dialogues that have shaped the company’s identity over a passage of time.
Founded in Melbourne in 1995 under the artistic direction of Gideon Obarzanek, Chunky Move has played a vital role in shaping Australia’s artistic and cultural landscape. It is one of the country’s most successful performing arts exports, having toured and performed in 123 cities around the world, reaching an audience of over half a million people. While it might appear both ironic and unfortunate that Chunky Move celebrated its 25-year anniversary in a pandemic year when live performances were cancelled worldwide, the company’s current Artistic Director and co-CEO Antony Hamilton reflects on the ways this timing has encouraged greater reflection on the company’s modus operandi.
“It’s hard to speak about the experience of Chunky Move turning 25 without acknowledging the context of COVID-19, which has dominated the year we’ve just been through,” explains Hamilton, one of three Artistic Directors at the helm of Chunky Move. “It’s been quite fascinating because I think some of the best art often springs from times of turmoil and difficulty, as such times force us to try and reimagine the function of the ...Subscribe to read this article in full
