Bonehead 1997
Bonehead was the first work presented by Chunky Move as Victoria’s new flagship contemporary dance company, and was like nothing that had come before it. Choreographer Gideon Obarzanek reimagined the possibilities of the performing body in ways that were playful and irreverent one moment, startling and provocative the next. Hilarious, virtuosic and stuffed full of memorable images, the production enjoyed multiple seasons in Melbourne as well as a tour of South America.
Creative Team
Choreography Gideon Obarzanek
Music & Sound Design Supersonic
Costume Design Brett Chamberlain
Lighting Design Stephen Wickham
Set Design Andrew Carter
Rehearsal Director Georgia Shepperd
Original Performers Luke Smiles, Lea Francis, Victor Bramich, Kathryn Dunn, Brett Daffy, Narelle Benjamin, Byron Perry, Gideon Obarzanek
Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek
Executive Producer Angharad Wynne-Jones
Production Manager Rebecca Palmer
Stage Manager Annette Dale
World Premiere
20 May 1997 Melbourne
Touring Seasons
1997 Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Lismore, Hobart
1998 Adelaide, Melbourne, Bogota, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Koln, Leverkusen, Gelsenkirchin
“Disturbing, poignant and exhilarating. For its physicality alone, Bonehead is breathtaking to watch; enthralling for the daring skill of the dancers who scale and hang from walls, link bodies like circus gymnasts and generally hurl themselves about in acutely choreographed sequences that look quite terrifyingly spontaneous” Sydney Morning Herald.
A note from Gideon Obarzanek
If Bonehead were a book it would be both a novel and a reference book. While there are narratives and characters throughout the piece, there is also an analysis taking place – of the body as a utilitarian being or object. At one time the body is able to be a hilarious caricature of a vulnerable victim, while at another, it is seen number-crunching frenetically through virtuosic movement combinations, reducing it to a mechanician of bone, sinew and muscle.
