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When you enter an environment populated by varied lifeforms, animated machines and a set that itself seems to pulse and breathe, you know you’re not in traditional dance territory. This visionary creation throws every rule to the wind, and is the first work created by Antony Hamilton since taking up the helm of Chunky Move.
Token Armies is a symphony of action, image and sound, and a collective experience through which audiences will make their own journey. Featuring a leviathan sculpture by Creature Technology Co. – the renowned creators of works such as King Kong and Walking with Dinosaurs – this immersive spectacle explores the way labour becomes ritual and opens up opportunities for a future humanity. Bio-mechanical forms alongside an ensemble of 23 performers query the boundary between the living and the inanimate.
Token Armies is a bold statement of the kind of work Antony Hamilton champions: dance that goes beyond the frontier of the individual body, making porous the barriers that divide humans from each other and the natural and artificial worlds in which we move.
Epic in scale, ambitious in conceit and utterly unforgettable in execution, this world premiere event is an evolutionary leap into an unknown tomorrow.
Concept, Direction and Choreography: Antony Hamilton
Sculpture and Wearable Sculpture Design and Fabrication: Creature Technology Co.
Assistant Choreographer and Rehearsal Director: Melanie Lane
Costume Design: Paula Levis
Costume Consultant: Andrew Treloar
Lighting Design: Bosco Shaw
Sound Design: Aviva Endean
Sound Consultant: Madeleine Flynn
Concept Art: Peter Gregory
Performers: Jade Dickinson, Alice Dixon, Joshua Faleatua, Christina Guieb, Antony Hamilton, Samuel Hammat, Mitchell Harvey, Melanie Lane, Cody Lavery, Phillip Leitch, Gregory Lorenzutti, Kathleen Lott, Tiana Lung, Talitha Maslin, Amber McCartney, Damian Meredith, Callum Mooney, Josh Mu, Jessie Oshodi, Jack Riley, Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Kyall Shanks and Michaela Tancheff
Supported by – Chunky Move, Melbourne Festival, Creature Technology Co. and the City of Melbourne through Arts House
Presented by Arts House and Chunky Move in association with Creature Technology Co. Commissioned by Melbourne International Arts Festival