COMPLEXITY OF BELONGING to Open 9 October at Southbank Theatre

From a long-standing and critically lauded collaboration comes the highly anticipated world premiere of a politically charged work from two of theatre and dance's most unflinching creators. Chunky Move joins forces with Melbourne Theatre Company, Melbourne and Brisbane Festivals for Complexity of Belonging, an international co-production that will push perceptions of contemporary Australian theatre. Making its world premiere in Melbourne before embarking on a 2015 European tour, Complexity of Belonging opens on Thursday 9 October 2014 at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner.

Uniting the potent choreography of Chunky Move Artistic Director Anouk van Dijk and the text of Schaubu?hne Berlin Director-in-residence Falk Richter, Complexity of Belonging seamlessly integrates text, movement and music to create a work of theatre that is in and of its time.

A darkly humorous exploration of identity in the age of social media, Complexity of Belonging peers into the lives of nine interconnected individuals - combining five extraordinary dancers with four of Melbourne's best young actors - as they grapple with an essential question: how and where do I belong? Nationality, gender, sexuality and history collide in this audacious, theatrical exposé of the daily trials of surviving in a hyperconnected, globalised society.

This is the fifth work from Falk Richter and Anouk Van Dijk, who have been frequent creative collaborators over the past 15 years. Previous productions - Nothing Hurts (1999 Kampnagel), Trust (2009, Schaubu?hne Berlin), Protect Me (2010, Schaubuhne Berlin), and their most recent collaboration Rausch (2012, Dusseldorf Schauspielhaus) - have pioneered a unique form of dance-theatre where one is never simply talking of text without simultaneously encountering choreography, and vice versa.

Falk Richter has been Director-in-residence at Schaubu?hne Berlin since 2000 and is one of the most important European playwrights of his generation. His plays have been translated into more than 25 languages and are produced all over the world. Apart from writing and directing his own plays, Richter has directed Shakespeare, Tschechow, Schiller, Brecht, and a number of contemporary writers such as Caryll Churchill, Harold Pinter, Jon Fosse and more.

Dutch dance phenomenon Anouk van Dijk is a choreographer, artistic director and the creator behind the movement system, Countertechnique. She has been Artistic Director of Chunky Move since 2012 and premiered her first work for the company - An Act of Now - in the 2012 Melbourne Festival to critical acclaim. Her work has toured extensively throughout her home country of The Netherlands, Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government's Major Festivals Initiative, managed by the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals, Melbourne Festival, Brisbane Festival, Chunky Move and Melbourne Theatre Company.

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