Complexity of Belonging is neither strictly dance nor pure theatre, as text is as important a component of movement in the work, which touts itself as ‘a darkly humorous exploration of identity in the age of social media.’ “In creating the work we were thinking about assimilation,” says van Dijk. “What it is to be an immigrant. What do you see? When you come to a new place you see the world from another perspective and it’s a very interesting process, the questioning of another culture. How do you perceive what is normal or what is not? I’ve moved to another place and now I look at my culture, at my Dutch heritage and wonder how I belong here…Complexity of Belonging comes from personal stories involving heritage, ancestry, gender, and sexuality.”
The work is written by van Dijk’s long-term co-creator, German born theatre maker Falk Richter, Director-in-residence at Schaubühne, Berlin. Complexity of Belonging is their fifth collaboration over a period of 15 years. “The fact that Falk’s German is germane to his experiences in the world,” says van Dilk. “To be German is to be seen as carrying some guilt for the Nazi atrocities. But as well as being German, Falk’s gay and he’s an artist. When he visited Israel he was attacked purely for being German. He found himself in the position of defending his ancestry, of having to explain that as a gay man he would have been sent to those gas chambers, too.”
As well as being a co-creation between van Dilk and Richter, Complexity of Belonging brings together Chunky Move and the Melbourne Theatre Company, as well as two major arts festivals, the Melbourne and the Brisbane Festivals. Besides the perspectives that van Dilk and Richter bring to the work, where do the characters and stories come from? “The whole process drew from personal stories,” explains van Dijk. “We developed it from improvisations with the group of performers, from their personal stories, interesting stories from everybody. We had specific tasks, both text and movement that we gave them to improvise with. It developed organically. As a writer, Falk used these stories and developed the characters. He has a huge sense of humour and people felt confident to share, to explore with him. A key part of the work is that ‘Australian’ sense of humour, it features strongly, and there are ‘stand-up moments’ in the work, coming from how the performers answered the questions; there are some playful absurd moments.” Van Dilk is enthusiastic about the set of Complexity of Belonging, created by designer Bob Cousins. “It’s an iconic set. It’s huge! It highlights the individuals yet they also merge into the landscape.”
Five dancers and four actors will perform the work: Joel Bray, Lauren Langlois, Alya Manzart, Eloise Mignon, James Vu Anh Pham, Stephen Phillips, Josh Price, Karen Sibbing, and Tara Soh. “The characters range in age from 21 to the late 30s,” van Dijk continues. They are all people who live in cities populated by over a million people. They are all asking where they belong, asking how they can be who they are in their situation.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
