Sydney Opera House
August 24
Based on the seemingly straightforward concept of creating a new work, I Like This had its Sydney debut as part of the recent Spring Dance Festival. Co-directed and choreographed by two of Chunky Move’s current dancers, Antony Hamilton and Byron Perry, it is comical, unpredictable and fast moving. Its value lies in opening up to an audience what the process of creating a new work is like for those involved, capturing the interplay of ego and insecurity in comic detail.
The choreographers have woven finely tuned physical humour into the movement -- something we could see a lot more of in contemporary dance. The humour was combined with spoken dialogue, the dancers’ onstage control of light and sound effects, gestural movement and contemporary dance. Kirsty Ayre was articulate in the main speaking role and all five dancers moved with fluid control and abandon. While some sections looked improvised, others were tightly synchronised and well rehearsed, such as when a trio moved their arms in a swinging movement which increased in speed to a visual blur.
Dancers’ controlling technology around them has been a recurring theme in Chunky Move’s work and it’s amazing how eloquent it can be. The movement of light became as meaningful as the movement of the dancers as they were the ones manipulating and ultimately using it to communicate. From reeling the portable light in slowly, to it being swung around on a rope like a lasso and used more simply as a torch, there were some clever and expressive lighting effects. A flashing strobe light was accompanied by electronic music with a strong disco beat and punchy, aggressive movement. Later in the work, after a whirlwind of activity, Phillip Glass’s piano music made the suddenly calm ambience quite poignant. As the music faded the sound of rain falling began. Thunder and the visual metaphor of a storm cloud with flashes of lightning was a nice way to round it all off.
I Like This puts forward collaboration between individuals and playful curiosity as vital ingredients in creating new work. In doing so it challenges the notion of choreographer as autocrat -- sure of what they want and demanding in extracting it from dancers willing or otherwise. Byron Perry and Antony Hamilton take the artist off their clichéd pedestal -- and what a relief that is.
It will be interesting to see how Chunky Move progresses now that its founding director, Gideon Obarzanek, is moving on, but incoming artistic director Anouk van Dijk has inherited an intelligent group of dancers whose ability to choreograph on each other is an asset.
- GERALDINE HIGGINSON