Rewards for the Tribe
Chunky Move and Restless Dance Theatre
After a sold-out run in Melbourne earlier this year as part of RISING Festival, Chunky Move and Restless Dance Theatre’s geometrical playground performance Rewards for the Tribe returns this October, with special UK performances taking place in Coventry, followed by a warm return to Australia with a run of shows in Restless’ hometown of Adelaide from 26-29 October.
For millennia, artists have strived to articulate the human experience in divine forms. Images of ‘perfection’ are everywhere, but we live in an imperfect world full of unpredictability and wonky angles. A performance years in the making, featuring dancers with and without a disability, Rewards for the Tribe wrestles with the archetypes of divine geometry laid out by the Old Masters.
Chunky Move’s Artistic Director Antony Hamilton was interested in toppling the idealism of Mondrian’s 20th century minimalist Colour Composition Series and Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Dancers Jianna Georgiou, Michael Hodyl and Charlie Wilkins from Restless Dance Theatre along with Cody Lavery and Benjamin Hancock from Chunky Move delve deep into the complicated relationship between humans and the material world. Rewards for the Tribe celebrates the imaginations of artists while embracing life’s exquisite chaos.
Taking place at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry UK, from Wednesday 5 October until Saturday 8 October, this will be Restless Dance Theatre’s first time presenting a work in the UK. Warwick Arts Centre commissioned the work and hosted the companies for a development workshop in 2019. Chunky Move returns after a 10-year hiatus, where they presented Mortal Engine, choreographed by former Chunky Move Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek, at London’s Southbank Centre in 2012.
After the UK run, Chunky Move and Restless Dance Theatre will head to Adelaide from Wednesday 26 October until Saturday 29 October, marking an important hometown show for Restless. They will perform at The Odeon Theatre, the home of Australian Dance Theatre where Hamilton was once a company member. Chunky Move has not performed in Adelaide since 2014, when they toured Hamilton’s Keep Everything.
Choreographed and directed by Hamilton, the five dancers bend, crumple and reorganise the asymmetrical set by Jonathon Oxlade that gently pokes fun at the precise angles of Mondrian’s colour block paintings. Together they find beauty in things as they are and question the pursuit of perfection.
With sound design by Aviva Endean incorporating the unique expressive voices of the dancers, a nostalgic and minimal lighting design by Jenny Hector perfectly sets the tone.
