Anouk van Dijk, the newly appointed artistic director of Chunky Move, was in Melbourne during January to audition for dancers.
The auditions took place over four days. Nearly 300 dancers applied, of which she chose 130 to take the audition. At the time of going to press, she had narrowed down this group to a final fifteen.
The aspiring dancers had to perform movement from an existing work; simple tasks using voice and microphone; a one minute solo of their choice; improvisation tasks, and an assignment phrase. She was looking for such things as the dancers’ ability to collaborate, how physically extreme they could be, mathematical skills (for composition), stamina, their sense of humour. She also asked each dancer to bring in two sets of different clothing, one that brought out their feminine and one that brought out their masculine side, “to see what different qualities come out”.
She was impressed by what she saw. “They were really good,” she said with feeling. “You have so many good dancers here!”
Dijk takes up the reins at Chunky Move officially in June.
To see Dijk taking a counter technique class, see below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ1_jQq8M1o.
For a full interview with Anouk van Dijk, see the April/May issue of ‘Dance Australia’.