Speaking about the new work, Chunky Move’s lithe Artistic Director Anouk Van Dijk expresses herself with tightly controlled gesture, betraying her experience as a dancer. Replacing Gideon Obarzanek after his 16-year tenure, which shaped one of the country’s most important dance companies, Van Dijk’s aware of the expectation An Act Of Now comes with. Obarzanek’s last work premiered at Melbourne Festival 2011, and in a kind of symmetry, the quite brilliant Van Dijk will premiere her first for the company at this year’s festival.
The work takes into account a kind of human tribalism explored through the very physical medium of dance, which Anouk has long been devoted to. “I’m interested in the working of a group, and the working of the power in a group,” she says. “How power shifts, and how one thing in a group can trigger something else in [a chain reaction], that very quickly a group can get very aggressive, or can become submissive. So there’s some kind of power in a group and I try to work that out from a very physical approach.”
In a laboratory experiment free from societal contaminants, An Act of Now places Anouk’s dancers in a sterile glass box. Here, the audience watch as the results unfold. “They’re in a glass house which stands for how we cultivate things, we protect things, we grow our plants that way when the climate doesn’t allow us to, so I thought that was very interesting to expose dancers that way.”
This exploration is part of an ongoing fascination for Van Dijk with site-specific works, seeing how different environments affect the dance and in turn, how we view the dance. “I started to put my works out in the context of buildings, nature, outdoor environments. Working site-specific [you’re] dealing with the harshness of nature, or association with a place. If you’re dancing in a public building the meaning of the dance changes because the behaviour of the audience will be different than when they go to a theatre.
“So I got really fascinated by that whole role of audience-dancers-environment, the effect of the environment on us. If we go inside a dark, gritty place our behaviour will change, so our perspective of what we see there will also change. If you go to a very posh, beautiful theatre our behaviour will change accordingly. So I really like that to influence the experience of dance.”
Though visual art lends itself to the site-specific and unexpected outdoor placement, Van Dijk says it’s less common in dance because of its fragility. ”It’s much more difficult for dancers to work at a high professional level when the circumstances are very harsh,” she says, “so when I work site-specific it doesn’t mean that I just want to put them under tremendous stress, especially for An Act Of Now – I put them in a very safe box.”
And the site that’s been chosen for this work is the Sydney Myer Music Bowl, a unique choice indeed. While it’s often used for outdoor classical music concerts and revelry-fuelled parties it’s a venue that’s generally stayed away from contemporary art – until now. “There’s never ever been a performance like that on the site so I think it will be really interesting for people, just out of curiosity what’s happening to this venue, because I’ll use it really differently to you’re used to.”
Van Dijk’s credentials include ten years as a lead soloist for the lauded Rotterdam Dance Company and Amanda Miller’s Pretty Ugly Dance Company. While her time away from dancing has seen her conceive productions that investigate societal structures, her experience means she has an inherent knowledge of what’s required of performers. “I know a lot about how it is to dance, how it is to deal with exhaustion. Somehow I got really good in seeing what’s potentially there in a dancer, so I observe dancers very carefully and I say, ‘Okay, the strengths lies there for that person’, and I also try to bring out their strengths in the work,” she says.
“Especially because [An Act Of Now] is about people in a controlled environment, and how a group controls each other, you can also that way see the personalities pop out, and that’s very much the focus for this particular work.”
Her vision for the company is one that showcases their innovation internationally, but focuses also on the specific implications of our geography. “I’m really interested to work more locally, really look into Melbourne and the whole vibe and dynamics of Melbourne which I really like. I find this a really inspiring place.
“I think [being Melbourne’s dance company] has been Chunky Move, and I think that’s been the attraction for me. It’s a place that allows the Artistic Director to take a lot of different directions with where the work can go. So it can be adventurous and the audience want it to be that way. When you go to Chunky Move it should be a show like nothing you’ve ever seen. That’s Chunky Move, and it’ll stay that way.”
BY BELLA ARNOTT-HOARE
