#Malthouse #ChunkyMove Common Ground. Anouk van Dijk, in her swansong as Artistic Director, puts incredible dancers Richard Cilli & Tara Jade Samaya through their paces. I haven’t been a big fan of van Dijk’s work in her 6 years at CM, but this was amazing. #DanceMassive (at Malthouse Theatre) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvVNz_ZFpY0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=pdfjow7v4xkt

#Malthouse #DanceMassive Nicola Gunn: Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster. Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c.1560, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (or a close copy made soon after a painting by him). See also W.H.Auden's poem 'Musée de Beaux-Arts' which sees this painting in relation to everyday morality. The painting is Gunn's 'artist's statement' for her theatre programme.

#Malthouse #DanceMassive #AsiaTopa Anti-Gravity. Anouk van Dijk, with Singaporean Ho Tzu Nyen, creates an austere world of individual atmospherics, then a sudden change and a communal bacchanal erupts. Although I still don't 'get' van Dijk's "Countertechnique" choreography, she has an eye for spectacle and her ultra-committed dancers are amazing. This work seems to show a warming, and much of the second half was purely enjoyable :) I chatted to a dancer's mum afterwards & she agreed ;-) The weather balloon did unfortunately remind me of Woody Allen, though… (at Malthouse Theatre)

#Malthouse #DanceMassive Nicola Gunn: Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster. Yet another one-woman show from this mid- to late-early thirties artiste… Gunn uses disarming conversational narrative, deceptive choreography (not just made up!) and her considerable personal charm, to lead the viewer on a wild-duck chase through highways and dead-ends, all the while in a fidgety pursuit of everyday morality. (at Malthouse Theatre)

#Malthouse #DanceMassive #ChunkyMove Anti-Gravity (at Malthouse Theatre)

#Malthouse #DanceMassive Nicola Gunn: Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster. @keithgow (at Malthouse Theatre)

The second Dance Massive performance I saw was ‘Do you speak Chinese?’ choreographed by Victoria Chiu. Victoria doesn't speak a Chinese language,  Nonetheless, people often see her as Chinese. The dance was developed in collaboration with dancer Kristina Chan, and plays with the many ways our bodies speak for us, often before we’ve even had a chance to open our mouths. The two of them performed in the Tower Theatre inside the Malthouse Theatre. This small intimate space allowed the audience to have a intimate view of the performance.  Props are used to convey an effective analogy for trying to learn Chinese. A red dress, paper, hanging decor and music are used. These props are used to convey on the struggles of learning chinese in Melbourne. Later the mood turns reflective. The dancers sit, heads lolling, as drops of black ink fall from on high, staining their outfits and trickling down their bare skin.  I didn't enjoy this performance as much as Chunky Moves. Although i understood the contemporary dancing producing a message, I found it too contemporary and conceptual. I was after more energy and more use of the space as a tool for performance not just a backdrop and the inclusion of props to assist. 

Dance Massive Victoria Chiu - Do you speak Chinese