Chunky Move will revive its seminal work Glow this May, marking 20 years since the production first reshaped the possibilities of contemporary performance through its integration of dance and interactive technology.
Premiering at the Melbourne Festival in 2006, Glow quickly established itself as a defining work in the company’s repertoire. Combining physical intensity with real-time motion tracking, it toured extensively across more than 40 cities and remains one of Australia’s most widely travelled contemporary dance works.
Now returning as part of both the RISING program and the Australian Dance Biennale, the revival will be presented under the direction of Antony Hamilton, who describes the work as a milestone in the company’s history.
“In remounting Chunky Move’s 2006 work Glow we are celebrating an Australian contemporary dance work of great significance,” Hamilton says. “In its time, Glow was a trailblazer of integrated design in new dance and performance… its return is testament to its enduring qualities and it’s a great privilege to platform the work 20 years on for a new generation of audiences.”
The 27-minute solo places a single performer within a responsive digital environment, where beams of light track and extend the body’s movement in real time. Developed in collaboration with German interactive artist Frieder Weiss, the work unfolds as a shifting dialogue between human and machine, exploring transformation, hybridity and the limits of physical form.
The anniversary season will feature a rotating cast of three performers: original cast member Sara Black, current company artist Melissa Pham, and independent performer Layla Meadows. Each brings a distinct interpretation to the role, offering audiences a different encounter with the work across the season.
Originally choreographed by Gideon Obarzanek, who co-founded Chunky Move in 1995, Glow received significant critical recognition, including Helpmann Awards for Best Dance Work and Best Female Dancer, and a Green Room Award for design. Its influence has extended beyond the stage, notably informing the visual language of Kylie Minogue’s Get Outta My Way music video, also designed by Weiss.
Running from 27 to 31 May in Melbourne, this limited season offers a rare opportunity to revisit a work that helped define a generation of Australian contemporary dance, and which continues to resonate in an era increasingly shaped by the relationship between body and technology.