Salihara Festival Feels the GLOW of Australia’s Chunky Move

As part of the Australian Embassy’s month-long cultural festival OzFest 2010 (17 September to 17 October 2010), world renowned contemporary Australian dance company Chunky Move will feature at this year’s Salihara Festival in Jakarta. Chunky Move will present two programs GLOW and Dance Like Your Old Man on 8 and 9 October 2010.

GLOW is an illuminating choreographic essay produced by Chunky Move’s Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek and Interactive Software Creator Frieder Weiss. This award winning performance is viewed by the audience from a high angle and, through a data projector in the ceiling, uses real time generated graphics to work with the movement of the dancer. Harnessing motion sensing and capture techniques commonly used by animators, the camera tracks the body outline of the dancer and informs the computer where the dancer is, how fast they are moving and what part of their body is moving. From that data the computer runs a series of algorithms which allow the dancer's movements to direct lighting and video.

Dance Like Your Old Man is an upbeat documentary showing women imitating their fathers’ dancing styles. This film brings to life these unseen men through the dances and reflections of their daughters.

In addition to Obarzanek and Weiss, Chunky Move is made up of dancers Kristy Ayre and Harriet Richie and Multimedia Operator Nick Roux. Based in Melbourne and founded in 1995 by Obarzanek, Chunky Move has earned an enviable reputation for producing a distinct yet unpredictable brand of genre-defying dance performance.

“It is a real privilege to welcome Australian performers of this calibre to Indonesia. Their work is on the cutting edge of Australian dance practice and GLOW, in particular, is one of the most impressive pieces of the company’s repertoire. Their performances highlight Australia’s sophistication, creativity and innovation and bring together some of our country’s best artistic and technological talent,” said Australia’s Chargé d'Affaires Paul Robilliard.

Chunky Move’s performances at the Salihara Festival have been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Indonesia Institute (AII) and the Australia Council – the group’s arts funding and advisory body. They are also supported by the Victorian State Government through Arts Victoria.

Media Enquiries:
Sanchi Davis, Cultural Attaché tel. (021) 2550 5260 mob. 0811 936 302