Chunky Move Presents World Premiere Of TOKEN ARMIES By Antony Hamilton
By: A.A. Cristi Jul. 16, 2019
A commissioned highlight of the upcoming 2019 Melbourne International Arts Festival, Token Armies is epic in scale, ambitious in conceit and utterly unforgettable in execution. The performance is presented by Chunky Move and Arts House in association with Creature Technology Co. and can be experienced at the Meat Market from 16 - 20 October 2019.
Token Armies is an evolutionary leap into an unknown tomorrow. When you enter an environment populated by varied lifeforms, animated machines and a set that itself seems to pulse and breathe, you know you're not in traditional dance territory. This visionary creation throws every rule to the wind and is the first work created by Antony Hamilton (2019 Helpmann Award winner for Best Choreography in a Ballet, Dance or Physical Theatre Production) since taking up the helm of Chunky Move.
Token Armies is a symphony of action, image and sound, and a collective experience through which audiences will make their own journey. Featuring sculptures by Creature Technology Co. - the renowned creators of works such as King Kong and Walking with Dinosaurs - bio-mechanical forms that query the boundary between the living and the inanimate and an ensemble of 23 performers, this immersive experience explores the way labour becomes ritual and opens up opportunities for a future humanity.
Token Armies is a bold statement of the kind of work new Artistic Director Antony Hamilton champions: dance that goes beyond the boundaries of the individual body, making porous the barriers that divide humans from each other and the natural and artificial worlds in which we move.
"Token Armies merges the body with objects and is a living sculpture of many parts. It intertwines the biological with the mechanical, and the audience itself becomes part of the flux of materiality flowing in and out of the work. It uses sound, image and action to evoke a narrative of labour transformed into ritual, and of technology taking on totemic power," explains Hamilton.
Hamilton continues, "The collaboration also brings together the creative voices of emerging Sound Designer Aviva Endean, Lighting Designer Bosco Shaw, and long time creative partner Costume Designer Paula Levis, to drive the unified vision of this immersive world."
Chunky Move sits at the frontier of Australian contemporary dance practice, producing ambitious works that challenge the form, facilitate unique artistic collaborations and offer audiences an unparalleled live experience. In its 24 years of existence the company has only had three Artistic Directors, including incoming Melbourne Festival Co-Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek. Under the leadership of Co-CEO's Antony Hamilton and Kristy Ayre Chunky Move enters another bold new era.
Token Armies
Meat Market
3 Blackwood Street, North Melbourne
16 - 20 October
6pm & 8.30pm. I hour 30 minutes, no interval
Tickets $59 / $49 / $39
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