Glow
Chunky Move (Australia) | concept and choreography: Gideon Obarzanek
The award-winning fusion of digital technology and human movement, “…a tour de force that will live long in the memory”, an intimate interactive solo performance in which the motion of the human body is used to trigger and control music, lighting and animation. Simply a must-see show!
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Glow
concept and choreography: Gideon Obarzanek
concept and Interactive system design: Frieder Weiß
music and sound design: Luke Smiles (motion laboratories)
additional music: Ben Frost
costume designer: Paula Levis
performers: Kristy Ayre / Sara Black / Bonnie Paskas
About the Show
Glow is an illuminating choreographic essay by Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek and interactive software creator Frieder Weiss.
Beneath the glow of a sophisticated video tracking system, a lone organic being mutates in and out of human form into unfamiliar, sensual and grotesque creature states.
Utilising the latest in interactive video technologies a digital landscape is generated in real time in response to the dancer’s movement. The body’s gestures are extended by and in turn manipulate the video world that surrounds it, rendering no two performances exactly the same.
In Glow, light and moving graphics are not pre-rendered video playback but rather images constantly generated by various algorithms responding to movement. In most conventional works employing projection lighting, the dancer’s position and timing have to be completely fixed to the space and timeline of the video playback. Their role is reduced to the difficult chore of making every performance an exact facsimile of the original. In Glow, the machine sees the performer and responds to their actions, unlocking them from a relationship of restriction and tedium.
Director’s Notes
Frieder and I first met at the Monaco Dance Forum at the end of 2004 and discussed the use of a data projector for lighting a moving body. In late 2005 in Australia we tested various relationships between a moving body and motion graphics using an infrared camera tracking system.
With a better understanding of the system’s capabilities, its possible applications and further potential, the dancers and I have attempted in the movement to create a type of “biotech fiction”, shifting the body into other imaginary sensual and grotesque creature states. The relationship of the digital pixel environment to the performer varies from being an illustrative extended motion of their movement, a visual expression of internal states, and also a self-contained animated habitat.
The relationship between the dancer and the graphics describe two entities that are in phase and at one with each other. Initially, only momentary fractures undermine this alliance, however as the work develops so does the unravelling and ultimate rupturing of these two elements.
In the opening scenes, GLOW’s high commitment to its aesthetics makes it visually very impressive. What may be more interesting however is the hint of a creature/person beginning to reveal itself from within this kaleidoscope system. The voice in the opening or the subtle shuddering of the body later on alludes to the possibility of something else beyond the clearly defined work of beautiful shapes and virtuosic execution.
As the work develops so does the initial responsive relationship of light and graphics to the moving body. At one point the dancer’s effect on a graphic pattern gives us the impression that all particles are related and that the body has merged into a single entity with the system. Later, projected shadow figures expelled by the performer take on a dramatic form of their own and influence the behaviour response of the dancer. Approaching a climactic end, there is an intense physical process that ultimately leads to the separation between the body of the performer and its projected image.
The seamless joint venture forged in GLOW between a moving body and tracking light and images ultimately reveals itself as flawed and in the end irreconcilable. The work expresses a desire to discard or escape elements from within ourselves and this can be seen as a visual metaphor for our own constant struggle with our primitive state of duality.
About the Company
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 and new-media and installation work.
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 international engagements include: South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Russia, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Hungary and Germany. In 2005 Chunky Move was awarded a Bessie for “Outstanding Choreography / Creation” for its New York season of Tense Dave.
Recent works include: Glow, Singularity, I Want to Dance Better at Parties, Tense Dave, Three’s A Crowd and Wanted: ballet for a contemporary democracy.
About the Choreographer
Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek founded Chunky Move in 1995. Since then the company has created many dance productions performing at numerous cities and festivals around the world. Gideon originally studied at the Australian Ballet School and danced with the Queensland Ballet and the Sydney Dance Company before working as an independent performer and choreographer with various dance companies and independent projects within Australia and abroad. Most recently Gideon has received a New York Bessie award for Outstanding Choreography/Creation for his collaboration with Michael Kantor and Lucy Guerin, Tense Dave and two Melbourne Green Room Awards for Original Choreography and Concept and Realisation for I Want to Dance Better at Parties. In 1999 he received a Mo award for best choreography for Bonehead and the Prime Minister’s Young Creative Fellowship in 1996.
