Depth of Field

DEPTH OF FIELD 6 – 14 MARCH 2015

Malthouse Theatre and Chunky Move present

DEPTH OF FIELD A new work by Chunky Move

CHAPTER ONE: BODY // LANGUAGE *** FORECOURT Concept, Direction & Choreography / Anouk van Dijk Costume Design / Mel Page Sound & System Design / Marco Cher-Gibard Music / Ben Frost, Ben Frost & DanĂ­el Bjarnason, The Bug Dramaturgy / Anny Mokotow Lighting Consultants / Michael Carr, Blair Hart Production Manager / Michael Carr Stage Manager / Blair Hart Choreographic Secondment / Luigi Vescio With / James Vu Anh Pham, Tara Jade Samaya, Niharika Senapati

Special thanks / Marcus Pugh at Resolution X, Luther Bangert, Michael Batley, Isabelle Beauverd, Mark Benson, Corinna Berndt, Lisa Tali Brash, Kara Burdack, Sarah Gatzonis, Kelvin Gedye, Belinda Gourley, Yvette Grant, Gabrielle Herrmann, Kaela Isley, Mason Kelly, Amaia Mugica, Bridget Nicholson, Eliza Sanders, Justin San Jose, Ludivine Siret, Marie-Laure Torres, Gaia Whitehead, Lennon Whitehead Malthouse Theatre and Chunky Move would like to acknowledge the people of the Kulin nation on whose land this work is being presented.

A note from the Director & Choreographer

The forecourt, once a thriving morass for indigenous clans, turned after settlement from a tent city to an industrial wasteland and became a somewhat forgotten landscape on the edge of the growing metropolis of Melbourne. Now the forecourt is again a place of purpose, in which artists, students and inhabitants pass and wander.

It is a thoroughfare that the dancers and their neighbours use daily. In its expanse it offers up a sense of multiple cities, the detailed intricacy of the every day, and the city’s endless stream of traffic and its anonymity. As a choreographer I wonder, how does the body respond to the stillness and the continuous motion? I wonder about the quiet magic, what is here that is obvious and what is less obvious; can the eye be choreographed to see particular details and still retain its autonomy to search for its own point of focus?

shared histories. The city, its dynamic and rhythm, its secrets and its past, passes through the dancers as they evoke elements of their cultural histories and modern identities. They enact an exchange between the external choreography of the city – pedestrians, traffic, weather – and an embodied inner choreography. The dance responds to its surroundings and yet has its own dynamic. It is the city’s energy translated, the unspoken and the spoken – the space between people made tactile. We allow our focus to be pushed and pulled by the performance, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. As ghosts rise from the dusty surface of the city, the space unfolds, allowing us to project our own imaginings onto the haze of the cityscape.

Depth of Field evokes personal and communal stories that are both dramas and vectors – trajectories to personal and

Anouk van Dijk / Director & Choreographer

A note from the Dramaturg

Dance as a sculptural material Depth of Field is the second part of the Embodiment series that began for Chunky Move in 2013 with 1:1:1.

Created as an investigation into the adaptability of a choreographic membrane as a moving object, 1:1:1 was performed as a short work alongside Monika Sosnowska’s monumental sculpture Facade at ACCA. The membrane is a malleable movement structure that can adjust to different environments as well as to different bodies. It can be performed by any number of dancers, by one, three, seven or by twenty. It can take place in any number of spaces. The choreography becomes an object that is spatially and

temporally adaptable. Each time it is restaged, the work builds a new history and gathers dimension.

In Depth of Field, the city space provides the surrounding on which the membrane descends. The choreography is responsive to the weather and to the continuum of action in the space: the time of day, the surrounding movement of traffic and the personalities and idiosyncrasies of those that inhabit the space as tenants, passers-by and dancers. The conditions of light, dimensions, surface and the daily use of the site transforms and reforms not

only the context but the physicality of the language in the choreography.

To place the choreographic membrane in a new space the dancers are challenged to embody the site as well as the movement – to find a connection to the movement and their surroundings that is personal and physical. The choreographic language takes on the forms that the surroundings demand and to which the dancers respond.

As the choreography pulls focus it presents an infinite number of possibilities that coexist in an uninterrupted spectrum of bodies, city and sound.

Depth of Field pulls focus with a number of crucial elements: city, music, body.

These elements move in and out of our auditory, visual and kinaesthetic perception, changing from one focal point to the other and regulating our dramaturgical experience.

Each element drives the senses and works as internal and external stimuli, giving the viewer a sense of space and proximity on which to build their experience.

Anny Mokotow / Dramaturg

Biographies

Anouk Van Dijk Concept, Direction & Choreography Anouk van Dijk is the Artistic Director of Chunky Move, Victoria’s flagship contemporary dance company. She is a choreographer, director and the creator behind the movement system Countertechnique. Van Dijk premiered her debut work for Chunky Move, An Act of Now, at the iconic Sydney Myer Music Bowl as part of the 2012 Melbourne Festival. The production went on to win The Age Critics’ Award for Best New Australian Work. This was followed in 2013 by 247 Days (Dance Massive), the first instalment of the Embodiment series – 1:1:1 – at ACCA, gentle is the power at the 2014 SOLO Festival of Dance in Brisbane and SummerSalt Festival 2015, and Complexity of Belonging at Melbourne Festival 2014. Depth of Field forms the second part of the Embodiment series. Before relocating to Australia, Van Dijk had an extensive career in Europe, touring worldwide

with her Dutch company anoukvandijk dc, performing at the world’s leading festivals and venues including Festival d’Avignon, Adelaide Festival, Sydney Opera House, MASS MoCA, Perth International Arts Festival, Dance Triennale Tokyo, American Dance Festival and Festival TransAmériques.

Van Dijk’s long collaborative partnership with German writer and director Falk Richter has resulted in the creation of five critically acclaimed productions that have toured in Europe and internationally.

Van Dijk started to create site-specific work in 2011 with the Mensch series – her first serial work. In 2012 Van Dijk was awarded the Golden Swan (Gouden Zwaan) – the Netherlands’ most prestigious dance accolade – in recognition of her outstanding artistic and academic contribution to dance in her home country.

Mel Page Costume Design

Marco Cher-Gibard Sound & System Design

Mel Page is a costume and set designer. Page has designed costumes for Chunky Move’s Complexity of Belonging, numerous productions at Malthouse Theatre (The Government Inspector, Pompeii LA, Baal), Belvoir (Kill the Messenger, A Christmas Carol, The Glass Menagerie, Angels in America, Hamlet) and Sydney Theatre Company (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Pygmalion, Vs. Macbeth) as well as multiple productions with The Hayloft Project and Stuck Pigs Squealing. Alongside her theatre work, Page has production designed the short films Great Acts of Kindness and Hollow Bones, the web series One Step Closer to Home and costume designed the short film Baby Baby. Page is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts.

Marco Cher-Gibard is an artist using sound as a medium to investigate audio culture and the world around him. Working through improvisation, composition and installation, his current interests include documentation and the conceptual and aesthetic possibilities of sampling processes. He has performed solo and in collaboration throughout Australia and internationally and has exhibited and presented work in Australia at galleries and festivals including Art Not Apart, RMIT School of Art Gallery and Gertrude Contemporary Art Space. CherGibard is a sound and software designer for theatre, dance and media works. Credits include projects for Back to Back Theatre, Polyglot Theatre, National Gallery of Victoria, Snuff Puppets and Samara Hersch.

Biographies

Anny Mokotow Dramaturgy Anny Mokotow is a dramaturg, tutor and lecturer in modern and contemporary dance and theatre.

Her research interests include dance, dramaturgy, live-art, film and inter-disciplinary histories. Mokotow studied dance in Amsterdam, after which she worked as a dancer, performer and artistic director with dance and theatre groups in Europe, including Blok en Steel, Krisztina de Chatel, Onafhankelijk Toneel and de Vier-7. She has a PhD in dance and dramaturgy and a Master of Creative Arts in interdisciplinary practice from the University of Melbourne, and a post-graduate degree in film from the Victorian College of the Arts.

Michael Carr Lighting Consultant / Production Manager Michael Carr is the Production and Operations Manager at Chunky Move. His production credits with the company include Connected, Assembly, Keep Everything, An Act of Now, Mortal Engine, 247 Days, 1:1:1 (Embodiment series), AORTA, gentle is the power, It Cannot Be Stopped, It Sounds Silly and Complexity of Belonging. In a career spanning twenty years he has worked with a host of Australian performing arts companies both nationally and internationally. Carr was artist-in-residence at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts in 2004 and 2010, teaching circus, stage rigging, production and stage management.

Biographies

Blair Hart Lighting Consultant / Stage Manager

James Vu Anh Pham Performer

Blair Hart is the Production and Operations Coordinator at Chunky Move. For the company he has stage managed Keep Everything, An Act of Now, 247 Days, 1:1:1 (Embodiment series), AORTA, gentle is the power, It Cannot Be Stopped and Complexity of Belonging. As a freelance production and stage manager, Hart has worked with Malthouse Theatre, BalletLab, All Tomorrow’s Parties, and fortyfivedownstairs.

With Bluebottle, he worked on productions for KAGE Physical Theatre, Tim Darbyshire, Ilbijerri, Lucy Guerin Inc and Australian National Academy of Music.

Hart studied production at the Victorian College of the Arts.

James Vu Anh Pham has previously performed for Chunky Move in Stephanie Lake’s AORTA and Anouk van Dijk’s An Act of Now, 247 Days, 1:1:1 (Embodiment series), gentle is the power and Complexity of Belonging. In 2014 he received the Helpmann Award for Best Male Dancer in a Dance or Physical Theatre Work for his performance in 247 Days and the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer for AORTA. He has also worked with STEPS Youth Dance Company, Alice Lee Holland, Taane Mete, Taiaroa Royale, Ross McCormack and Maria Dabrowska.

Pham trained in classical ballet at the Graduate College of Dance and in contemporary dance at the New Zealand School of Dance, and is a certified Countertechnique teacher.

Tara Jade Samaya Performer

Niharika Senapati Performer

Tara Jade Samaya has previously performed in Chunky Move’s 247 Days, 1:1:1 (Embodiment series) and Complexity of Belonging. Her other performance credits include works

by Australian Dance Theatre and choreographers Antony Hamilton, Larissa McGowan, Lina Limosani and Daniel Jaber. Her performances in Be Your Self and Proximity (Australian Dance Theatre) saw her nominated for the Helpmann Award for Best Female Dancer in a Dance or Physical Theatre Work in 2010 and 2012. Samaya trained in Classical Ballet at the Marie-Walton Mahon Dance Academy before studying at the Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts.

Niharika Senapati has performed in Chunky Move’s An Act of Now, 247 Days, 1:1:1 (Embodiment series) and gentle is the power and was choreographic assistant for Complexity of Belonging.

She has also performed in Rachel Arianne Ogle’s work Precipice (Perth) and in Liesel Zink’s Fifteen (Next Wave Festival 2012). She has worked with choreographers Dean Walsh, Matthew Morris, Sue Peacock and Xiaoxiong Zhang.

Aside from performing, she is a certified Countertechnique and yoga teacher. Senapati is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of the Performing Arts.

About Chunky Move

Victoria’s flagship contemporary dance company, Chunky Move constantly seeks to redefine what
is or what can be contemporary dance in an ever-evolving Australian culture.

Led by internationally acclaimed choreographer, Anouk van Dijk, Chunky Move’s multi-tiered programming initiatives underpin a vibrant dance culture in Melbourne, creating popular productions for presentations nationally and internationally. In addition to its main stage performances, Chunky Move runs an extensive program of performer and choreographic development initiatives.

chunkymove.com

Chunky Move Team

Chunky Move Partners

BOARD Peter Biggs CNZM (Chair), Leigh O’Neill (Deputy Chair), Jeremy Blackshaw, Michelle Brooks, Annie Dawson, Anouk van Dijk, Sue Donnelly, Rhod Ellis-Jones, Rose Hiscock, Jeff Khan, Margaret Thompson

Government Partners

STAFF Artistic Director / Anouk van Dijk Executive Producer / Catherine Jones Business & Program Manager / Hillary Coyne Production & Operations Manager / Michael Carr Marketing & Development Manager / Claire Wilcock Office & Program Coordinator / Benjamin Ryan Production & Operations Coordinator / Blair Hart Marketing & Development Coordinator / Pauline Robert Finance Administrator / Anne MacDonald Class Coordinator / Jo Lloyd Front of House / Annabelle Balharry and Rebecca Jensen Publicity / Miranda Brown Publicity

Major Partner

Production Partner

Wine Partner

Supporting Partners

Chunky Move acknowledge the generous support of its donors.

About Malthouse Theatre

Innovative and internationally recognised, Malthouse Theatre is Melbourne’s leading contemporary theatre company. Using high-octane performance as its currency, Malthouse Theatre presents a compelling annual program of multi-disciplinary works that actively engage with pressing issues in the zeitgeist.

Staging the most stirring and stimulating productions across our three theatres, as well as in the forecourt of our iconic building, we promise to leave you feeling exhilarated every time you visit. With works as provocative as they are fun, as visceral as they are affirming, you can be guaranteed to be taken on the most thrilling adventures.

malthousetheatre.com.au

And with year-round international tours, collaborations and exchanges, our footprint stretches far beyond Southbank. 2014 saw international presentations in Mexico and China, as well as the development of a new work in India. This year, for our audiences at home, we’re excited to present productions with visiting artists from London, Ghent, Minsk and New York.

A melting pot of rich stories, a hub of innovative experiences and the perfect place to catch up with friends, Malthouse Theatre offers the most memorable nights out.

Malthouse Team Board of Directors Michele Levine (Chair), John Daley (Deputy Chair), Michael Kantor, Ian McRae AO, Sarah Morgan, Nick Schlieper, Thea Snow, Sigrid Thornton, Kerri Turner, Leonard Vary Artistic Director Marion Potts Executive Producer Sarah Neal Associate Artist (Direction) Matthew Lutton Dramaturg Mark Pritchard Female Director in Residence Samara Hersch Indigenous Projects Jason Tamiru Associate Producer Josh Wright Company Manager Alice Muhling Executive Assistant Nicole Benson Finance Manager Mario Agostinoni Finance Administrator Liz White

Company Administrator Amanda Macri Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa Scicluna Digital Strategy & Marketing Coordinator Alice Gage Media Manager Rohan Astley Graphic Designer Jane Roberts Development Manager Rachel Petchesky Development Coordinator Kim Brockett Building Manager Peter Mandersloot Ticketing Manager Emma Quinn Assistant Ticketing Manager Lauren White Production Manager David Miller Technical Manager Baird McKenna Operations Manager Dexter Varley Head of Lighting Stephen Hawker

Head Mechanist Ivan Smith Theatre Technician Nathanael Bristow Head of Wardrobe Delia Spicer Workshop Supervisor David Craig Steel Fabricator Goffredo Mameli Workshop Staff Mitch O’Sullivan, Elizabeth Whitton Scene Artist Patrick Jones Front of House Managers Sean Ladhams, Anita Posterino Box Office Staff Abbey Barnes, Paul Buckley, Kate Gregory, Michelle Hines, Ian Michael, Jade Thomson, Liz White, Fiona Wiseman Front of House/ Bar Staff Matt Adair, Thomas Banks, Nicole Benson, Mitchell Brotz, Jacqui Brown, Emma Corbett, Ray Chong Nee, Nadine

Dimitrievitch, Alice Dixon, Graham Downey, Tanja George, Kate Gregory, Alison Hayes-Brady, Mark Hoffman, Kathryn Joy, Lara Kerestes, Ian Michael, Fiona Moody, Daniel Moulds, Anna Nalpantidis, Ruby Nolan, Amelia O’Brien, Syrie Payne, Claire Richardson, Sanne Rodenstein, Pip Shea, Phoebe Taylor, Jade Thomson, Lee Threadgold, Noel Turner, Matilda Woodroofe Malthouse Theatre would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of its volunteers.

Malthouse Supporters Thank you, Malthouse Muses, for supporting our artistic vision and helping us to create a unique and dynamic environment for artists and audiences.

URANIA – Muse of the Stars – $25,000+ Annamila Fund, Michele Levine, Mary-Ruth & Peter McLennan, Craig Reeves, Maureen & Tony Wheeler CLIO – Muse of History – $10,000+ John & Lorraine Bates, Carol & Alan Schwartz AM THALIA – Muse of Comedy – $5,000+ Marc Besen AC & Eva Besen AO, Debbie Dadon, Neilma Gantner, Richard Leonard & Gerlinde Scholz, Berry Liberman & Daniel Almagor, Elisabeth & John Schiller, Anonymous (1) MELPOMENE – Muse of Tragedy – $2,500+ Frankie Airey & Stephen Solly, Chryssa Anagnostou & Jim Tsaltas, Roger Donazzan & Margaret Jackson AC, Rosemary Forbes & Ian Hocking, D.L. & G.S. Gjergja, Colin Golvan SC, Val Johnstone, Sue Kirkham, Naomi Milgrom AO, Janine Tai, Jason Waple, Jon Webster, Anonymous (1) EUTERPE – Muse of Music – $1,000+ John & Sally Bourne, Sally Browne, Beth Brown & Tom Bruce AM, Ingrid & Per Carlsen, Dominic & Natalie Dirupo, Rev Fr Michael Elligate, William J. Forrest AM, John & Helen Gibbins, Marco Gjergja, Ann Kemeny & Graham Johnson, Alan Kenworthy, Michael Kingston, Virginia Lovett, Pamela McLure, Rachel Petchesky, Jenny Schwarz, Right Lane Consulting, Robert Sessions & Christina Fitzgerald, Maria Solà, Gina & Paul Stuart, Rotru Investments Pty Ltd, Leonard Vary & Matt Collins, Jenny Werbeloff, Heather & Phil Wilson, Anonymous (2)

TERPSICHORE – Muse of Dance – $500+ Graham & Anita Anderson, Ingrid Ashford, Rowland Ball, Sandra Beanham, Min Li Chong, Chris Clough, Fiona Clyne, Mark & Jo Davey, Carolyn Floyd, Taleen Gaidzkar, Paul & Genevieve Gardner, Brian Goddard, Leonie Hollingworth, Brad Hooper, Irene Irvine, Irene Kearsey, Judith Maitland-Parr, Gael & Ian McRae, Tony Oliver, Gael & Ian McRae, Robert Peters, Katherine Sampson, Morry & Anna Schwartz, Lisl Singer, Barbara & Neil Smart, Thea & Hayden Snow, Fiona Sweet & Paul Newcombe, John Thomas, Kerri Turner & Andrew White, Joanne Whyte, Jan Williams, Henry Winters, Anonymous (1) ERATO – Muse of Love – $250+ Simon Abrahams, Stephen & Diane Alley, David & Rhonda Black, John & Alexandra Busselmaier, Douglas Butler, Ros Casey, Tim & Rachel Cecil, Marisa Cesario, Ros & Bill Chandler, Diane Clark, Robin & Neil Collier, Patricia Coutts, Tania de Jong AM, Joanne Griffiths, Peggy Hayton, Scott Herron, Roberta Holmes, Chree Kearney, Patricia Keith, Ruth Krawat, Liquorice Studio, Kim Lowndes, William Lye, John Millard, Dr Kersti Nogeste, Linda Notley, Orla & Rachel, James Ostroburski, Wendy Poulton, Gerard Powell, Rosemary & Roger Redston, Gavin Roach, Anita Roberts, Michael & Jenny Rozen, Ernie Schwartz, Jill Sewell, Janice Taylor, Rosemary Walls, Jan Watson, Barbara Yuncken, Anonymous (7) CATALYST SYNDICATE Warwick & Lida Bray, John Carruthers & Rosie Purcell, Charles Gillies & Penelope Allen, Nick Glenning & Jenny Proimos, Sarah Morgan, Corrie Perkin & Peter Loder, Maria Prendergast OAM, Simon Westcott & Dr Ben Keith

Malthouse Partners Government Partners

Venue Partner

Major Partner

Media Partner

Accommodation Partner

Corporate Associate

Company Supporters

Education Partner

Corporate Partners

Program Partners The Suitcase Series

Artist Program

Company in Residence

Trusts and Foundations

The Danielle & Daniel Besen Foundation

Australian Communities Foundation Creative Partnerships Australia Dara Foundation The Ian Potter Foundation Kerry Gardner & The Andyinc Foundation The R E Ross Trust The Robert Salzer Foundation Vera Moore Foundation

New Australian Commissions

Indigenous Theatre Program Tom Kantor Fund

Directors Exchange Project

International Program

Female Director in Residence

Maureen & Tony Wheeler

Craigmel Investment Pty Ltd

HEADPHONE INSTRUCTIONS

ON/OFF

TUNING VOLUME L

R

VOLUME / Wheel up for more volume, and wheel down for less volume.

TUNE / Press the tune button if your audio signal drops out during the show. This will move your headset to an alternative frequency.

ON/OFF / The small red and green lights on the front will glow when your headset is on.

If you have any problems with your headset at any point during the performance, please raise your hand and a staff member will attend.

Presented in association with

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY /

Andrew Gough

COVER TREATMENT /

The Sisters Hayes

REHEARSAL PHOTOGRAPHS /

Michael Carr