StarsStarsStarsStarsStars

Assembly

SYDNEY FESTIVAL: One of the best performances of the festival, Gideon Obarzanek's swan song as director of Chunky Move is a fascinating examination of human activities.
[This is archived content and may not display in the originally intended format.]
This would have to be one of, if not the, best events of this year’s Sydney Festival. A blending of dance with theatrical and operatic performance, this enormous work involves over 60 performers, including eight of Chunky Move’s dancers as well as singers – six principals! – from the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.

Devised and choreographed by Chunky Move’s Gideon Obarzanek in collaboration with Victorian Opera’s Richard Gill, Assembly examines the enigmatic motions of crowds as well as being alone in a crowd. The set is 12 huge steps. At times the cast ebb and flow, as if in peak hour at Martin Place or in London’s packed Tube; at times they march in unison, forming encompassing circles of movement.

From a dance point of view there is some fine ensemble work and some shining duets or solos. Half the cast are in reddish/orange/purplish colours, the others in bluey-green shades. Most are in casual streetwear. Sometimes simple movements are used (a hand on a shoulder, a tilt backwards or to the side); in others, Obarzanek’s choreography is haka-like with the cast as opposing footy fans hissing, growling, stomping and spitting. In one section his dangerous, almost death-defying, choreography has the dancers falling or hurtling down the stairs; yet at other times it is writhing and sculptural. Some of the choreography is mechanical or robot-like, some of it Graham-inspired. In parts the cast are mindlessly herded like sheep. There are liturgical prayer-like references with bent elbows, and references to Graeme Murphy’s Some Rooms – with the hands like birds or stars – and Siobhan Davies’ Flock perhaps.

Richard Gill, the musical director, has moulded his singers into a marvellous group who work together gloriously in a thrilling mix of disjointed babble of incoherent speech, early music repertoire (Gesualdo, Purcell, Victoria), lyrically haunting plainchant, grunts, groans, sighs and a twentieth century song. They are capable of performing choreographed movement too!

All up, Assembly is a fascinating examination of human activities, both collective and individual, contrasting dancing and singing, order and chaos – all blended into a single work. It’s a dazzling collaboration, with extraordinary power and impact.

It is sad to realise this is Obarzanek’s final work as director of Chunky Move, but what a magnificent way to bow out. It will be most interesting to see what he does next.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Chunky Move and Victorian Opera, with Sydney Philharmonia Choirs present
Assembly
Director and Choreographer: Gideon Obarzanek
Assistant Choreographer: Stephanie Lake
Music Director: Richard Gill
Assistant Music Director: Daniel Carter
Lighting Design: Nick Schlieper
Associate Lighting Design: Tom WIllis
Costume Design: Harriet Oxley
Set Design: Gideon Obarzanek and Chris Mercer

City Recital Hall, Angel Place
January 11–14 2012

Lynne Lancaster
About the Author
Lynne Lancaster is a Sydney based arts writer who has previously worked for Ticketek, Tickemaster and the Sydney Theatre Company. She has an MA in Theatre from UNSW, and when living in the UK completed the dance criticism course at Sadlers Wells, linked in with Chichester University.