Silver Linings: Chunky Move's Antony Hamilton

As the rest of Australia emerges from the restrictions that Covid imposed on everyone, Victoria remains in lockdown and is likely to stay that way until November. Has there been a silver lining for Chunky Move artistic director and co-chief executive officer, Antony Hamilton, in Melbourne, Victoria? He shares what Chunky Move would have been doing and what has happened instead.

If Covid hadn’t intervened, Chunky Move “would have been coming off the back of some cancelled national touring of our major 2019 work, Token Armies, would have hosted our Maximised in-kind studio residencies for independent artists, and would have been in studio development for our new works, Yung Lung and Rewards for The Tribe, which were originally slated to premiere this year,” Hamilton says.

“We would have also wrapped presentations of two co-commissioned works by Nana Billuš Abaffy and Ngioka Bunda-Heath for the 2020 Next Wave Festival. It’s all a bit depressing looking back at what would have been.” 

But it hasn’t been all bad, he adds. “I have continued development with creative collaborators who are able to work remotely on the two new works in development, Yung Lung and Rewards For The Tribe. There is often a strong presence of production design elements in Chunky Move works, and so having more dedicated time to develop set, lighting and sound design concepts has been great. We will have some pretty exciting design environments for our performers to inhabit once they are back in the studio.” This, he notes is his one great silver lining. 

The only silver lining for me,” he adds, “We don’t really need special tools or conditions, if we are willing to let go of the formality of the studio or the stage. I find myself dancing down the street to get my takeaway coffees on too many occasions. But it’s nice to know that creativity is all just sitting here under the skin, ready to surface at any moment.”

- CANDIDE MCDONALD