Gideon Obarzanek and Reuben Margolin
Connected

source: chunkymove

CHUNKY MOVE

Founded by Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek in 1995, Chunky Move has earned an enviable reputation for producing a distinct yet unpredictable brand of genre-defying dance performance.

Chunky Move’s work constantly seeks to redefine what is or what can be contemporary dance within an ever-evolving Australian culture. The company’s work is both diverse in form and content; to date the company has created a number of works for the stage, site specific, new-media and installation work.

In July 2012, Chunky Move entered a new period of artistic leadership under the guidance of Artistic Director, Anouk van Dijk. Van Dijk is an internationally acclaimed choreographer whose work has toured extensively throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Her work attracts broad audiences through an approach, which is daring, innovative and unpredictable in both its mode and context.

Chunky Move’s multi-tiered programming initiatives foster and support a strong and vibrant dance culture in its home city of Melbourne and also creates critically acclaimed and popular larger productions for touring. Recent cities toured include: London, Moscow, Budapest and New York.

In 2008 Chunky Move received Best Dance Work for Glow and Best Visual or Physical Theatre Production for Mortal Engine at the Live Performance Australia Helpmann Awards. In 2009, Mortal Engine received an Honorary Mention in the Prix Ars Electronica awards in the Hybrid Arts category. In 2011, Chunky Move was the recipient of two Green Room awards for their production, Assembly. An Act of Now, Chunky Move’s debut work with Anouk van Dijk, was awarded the Age Critics Award for Best New Australian Production at the Melbourne Festival in October 2012.
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source: chunkymove

CONNECTED

WORLD PREMIERE
Dance Massive 2011
Merlyn Theatre, The CUB Malthouse
11 – 20 March 2011

In the sell-out, international sensations of GLOW and Mortal Engine, Chunky Move transcended the limits of earthly form by immersing dancers in an illusory world of motion tracking and projection technology. In Connected, this dynamic is flipped on its back and digital technology is side-stepped in favour of pure mechanics.

Teaming up with Californian artist, Reuben Margolin, Gideon Obarzanek animates both the body and the machine through physical connection between the dancersand Margolin’s purpose-built, kinetic sculpture.

Reuben’s startlingly live sculptural works – constructed from wood, re-cycled plastic, paper and steel – transcend their concrete forms once set into motion, appearing as natural waveforms in a weightless kinetic flow. Suspended by hundreds of fine strings receiving information from multiple camshafts and wheels, his sculptures reveal in articulate detail the impulses of what they are coupled to. In Connected, it is people – athletic and agile dancers’ bodies twisting and hurtling through space, as well as people in recognisable situations.

Beginning with simple movements and hundreds of tiny pieces, the dancers build their performance while they construct the sculpture in real time. During the performance, these basic elements and simple physical connections quickly evolve into complex structures
and relationships.

All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours. (Aldous Huxley).

“..Mathematically precise and mesmerisingly beautiful.” THE AGE

“..An engrossing creation, intensely and rewardingly collaborative, passionately danced to exacting choreography.” REALTIME

CREATIVE TEAM
DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER: Gideon Obarzanek
SCULPTURE: Reuben Margolin
COMPOSERS: Oren Ambarchi & Robin Fox
LIGHTING DESIGNER: Benjamin Cisterne
COSTUME DESIGNER: Anna Cordingley
PERFORMERS: Sara Black, Stephanie Lake, Alisdair Macindoe, Ross McCormack, Marnie Palomares, Harriet Ritchie, Joseph Simons

DURATION 60 mins (no interval)
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source: campuscircle

Australia’s Chunky Move dance company has earned a reputation for producing a distinct yet unpredictable brand of genre-defying performance. Their work constantly seeks to redefine what contemporary dance is or can be, by creating works for the stage, off-site, new-media and installations.

Teaming up with Californian sculptor, Reuben Margolin, who is known for making large-scale moving structures, Chunky Move’s artistic director and choreographer Gideon Obarzanek has created a new work entitled “Connected,” which will be presented next week at the Luckman Performing Arts Center for one night only.

Beginning with simple movements and hundreds of tiny pieces, the dancers build their performance while they construct the sculpture in real time. During the performance, these basic elements and simple physical connections quickly evolve into complex structures and relationships.

Margolin met Obarzanek at a festival in 2009. Margolin recalls, “He was talking about dance, I was talking about waves. We both talked about movement. I immediately loved his work and felt that he was reaching deep into a realm of meaning to create his dance pieces. And I was simply struck by how dynamic and expressive the human figure can be.“

Soon, the two artists were talking about how to collaborate, combining kinetic sculpture and dancers.

“We both wanted to do something more challenging, and to somehow have the sculpture reflect the movement of the dancers,” said Margolin. “I came to think of the sculpture as a musical instrument, where my job was to give it the most expressive potential possible before Gideon figured out how to play it, give it meaning, and somehow incorporate it into a performance.“

Reuben’s sculpture for “Connected” is 35′ x 10′ x 20′ high and made of paper, magnets, string, steel, a wooden ring, 88 pulleys and a motor, that is powered by people – the athletic and agile dancers’ bodies twisting and hurtling through space.

The interactive dance begins with the dancers building the structure on stage and setting it into motion.

Obarzanek explains, “The choreography is concerned with uncontrolled forces and less ordered particles being arranged into paths and structures. Once constructed, the dancers connect themselves with fine strings to the sculpture. As they move, the suspended machine is animated and becomes an alternative representation of the dance. As the scene develops, it also begins to suggest mood and emotion, representing the possibility of something that is felt but is otherwise invisible.”

When the sculpture moves autonomously after the dancers have left, it becomes a distinct contemporary artwork hanging in a gallery space. This sends the theatrical piece in a new direction, as the dancers now are characters, acting as gallery guards who patrol and watch over the space, discussing the value of art and how it affects different people. Their tasks and actions become more and more playful, until they are again transformed into moving symmetrical shapes like the sculpture above.

“All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours.” –Aldous Huxley