Assembly 2011
With over sixty performers on a vast staircase on the Melbourne Recital Centre stage, Assembly was about crowds, a demonstration of mass action in both movement and voice. As striking patterns evolve from chaotic rabbles, musical harmony emerges from dissonant voices. Combining the force and agility of Chunky Move’s dancers with the aural majesty of the Victorian Opera, Assembly’s action shifted between mesmeric visualisations of kaleidoscopic order and the unpredictable convulsions of a fomenting mob. Assembly the last work Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek created for Chunky Move before passing on the reins to his successor, and its scale and size were appropriate for the Melbourne dance landscape he had helped build.
Creative Team
Direction & Choreography Gideon Obarzanek
Musical Direction Richard Gill
Lighting Design Nick Schlieper
Costume Design Harriet Oxley
Set Design Gideon Obarzanek & Chris Mercer
Assistant Choreographer Stephanie Lake
Assistant Musical Director Daniel Carter
Original Performers Harriet Ritchie, Sara Black, Alisdair Macindoe, James Shannon, Lily Paskas, Frankie Snowdon, Benjamin Hancock, Nathan Dubber
Original Principal Singers Casselle Bonollo, Olivia Cranwell, Frederica Cunningham, Tobias Glaser, Jeremy Kleeman, Matthew Thomas
Guest Singer Paul Capsis
Original Choir Alice Adams, Karina Adams, Andrew Alesi, Kyahl Anderson, Charlotte Betts-Dean, Nathan Camilleri, Robert Campbell, Darcy Carroll, Jesse Collin, Alastair Cooper-Golec, Stephen Coutts, Joel Davies, Bronwyn Dean, Zoe Drummond, Janneke Ferwerda, Matthew Frampton, Nicole Free, Shoumendu Ganguly, Prudence Hare, Cailin Howarth, Sara Kogan-Lazarus, Jacob Lawrence, Michelle McCarthy, Stephen Marsh, Gianni Marzella, Tim Matthews Staindl, Estia Morgan, Laura Newbould, Aleksis Payne, Hannah Pelka-Caven, Connor Rawson, Hillary Schier, Kate Schmidli, Henry Shaw, Patrick Shaw, Josephine Sim, Christian Smith, Marie Tabone, Daniel Todd, Jeremy Tate, Joshua Tomlinson, Erin Towns, Anna Voshege
Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek
Executive Producer Rachael Azzopardi
Business & Program Manager Hillary Coyne
Production Manager Chris Mercer
Stage Manager Josh Sherrin
Assistant Stage Manager Mel Dyer
Wardrobe Supervisor Jane Burt
World premiere
6 October 2011 (Melbourne)
Presenters
Melbourne International Arts Festival, Chunky Move and the Victorian Opera
Touring Season
2012 Sydney
“For Assembly, artistic director Gideon Obarzanek has thrown out his usual gravity-defying style for a down-to-earth production primarily driven by the human voice.” Herald Sun. Read more
Image: Jeff Busby
