Rewards for the Tribe 2022
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.
In Rewards for the Tribe, two of the country’s most influential and innovative dance companies Chunky Move and Restless Dance Theatre, collaborate for the first time. Together they ask, “is there such a thing as utopia by design?”
Five dancers, with and without disability, wrestle with the archetypes of divine geometry laid out by the Old Masters. Together they bend, crumple and reorganise a Mondrian-inspired whimsical objects, that both reference and topple idealistic modernist forms. Rewards for the Tribe celebrates the imaginations of artists while embracing life’s exquisite chaos.
Creative Team
Concept, Direction and Choreography: Antony Hamilton
Sound Designer and Composer: Aviva Endean
Set and Costume Designer: Jonathon Oxlade
Lighting Design: Jenny Hector
Rehearsal Director: Larissa McGowan
Support Worker: Emma Stokes
Production Manager: Blair Hart
Stage Manager: Cecily Rabey
Lighting Operator: Siobhain Geaney
Audio Engineer: Tom McKeand
Performers: Jianna Georgiou, Benjamin Hancock, Michael Hodyl, Cody Lavery, Charlie Wilkins
Understudies: Darcy Carpenter, Caitlin Mewett
Creative Contributor: Chris Dyke
UK Premiere Season
Warwick Arts Centre
5-8 October 2022
Adelaide Premiere Season
Odeon Theatre
26-29 October 2022
World Premiere Season
RISING
Chunky Move Studios
31 May-5 June 2022
Rewards for the Tribe is a co-production between Chunky Move and Restless Dance Theatre.
Rewards for the Tribe is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, Creative Victoria, Arts South Australia, the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative, the University of Warwick, Coventry UK City of Culture, the City of Melbourne through its Arts and Creative Investment Partnership Program, the Besen Family Foundation, the Alexander & Lloyd Martin Family Foundation, the James and Diana Ramsay Foundation, and by Supercell: Festival of Contemporary Dance and HOTA Home of the Arts through The Makers Program.
Media
"Rather than striving for impossible perfection, the work seems to say, true satisfaction lies in embracing all the messy absurdity of existence – a simple enough proposition, embodied here joyfully and beautifully." – 4 stars, ArtsHub
"This production clearly fulfils choreographer Antony Hamilton's agenda to create images that help make sense of a wonky world." – 4.5 stars, Limelight Magazine
"Endean’s score is particularly remarkable, circling through delicate and diverse sound palettes that, refreshingly, depart from contemporary dance’s ubiquitous, industrial throb and pulse templates.” – The Australian
“Rewards for the Tribe is a masterwork embracing the uncertainty, wonky with definition. Full energetic fun working with perfect objects. Friends. Sound. Love. Energy. Physical. Complex. Puzzle. Real. A playground of form and chaos. The grandmother saving her family in the acid lake of Dante’s Peak. Loud. Powerful. Gentle. Full on. Puddles of Colour. Galloping. Whiz around. Build it up. Oooooh! Bad boy, we melt it down. I love all the physical challenge in front of me This is an art attack. Find your spotlight on you. Let it go. It’s your show. Dance with your friends. Make it happen. Music feels like special. You will be in my heart. Race through my body filled with words. You’re my world full of moon and sun. You bright my eyes and sparkle with stars. I am strong in freedom and you work me very hard. You’ll be on top in the universe.”
- Benjamin, Jianna, Cody, Charlie, Mike, Darcy, Caitlin.
Image: Jeff Busby
Image: Jeff Busby
Image: Jacquie Manning