VICTORY OVER THE MOON (МИР) [July 2022, Chunky Move/Next Wave, Melbourne]
VICTORY OVER THE MOON is a dance around the visions that arise in moments of crisis... when time seems to move differently, either speeding up or slowing down in unexpected ways.
Three bodies anatomize the dreams and delusions that manifest out of necessity and move into focus, momentarily rising then falling, peace and war and disbelief, but always looking for miracles in unforeseen places. In this new experimental choreographic work, co-commissioned by Next Wave and Chunky Move, Nana Biluš Abaffy and long-term collaborators Milo Love and Geoffrey Watson create a world of embodied imaginaries you are going to remember. But whatever you do, don’t press the red button.
World Premiere Season, 2022 Chunky Move Tues 26 July, 7:30pm (Preview) Wed 27 July, 7:30pm Thurs 28 July, 7:30pm Fri 29 July, 7:30pm Sat 30 July, 3:00pm (Auslan interpreted & post-show Q&A) Sat 30 July, 8:00pm GET TICKETS Join the artists after the Saturday 30 July 3pm performance for a Q&A session. Presented by Chunky Move Co-commissioned by Next Wave and Chunky Move
Creative Team CHOREOGRAPHY & VISUAL DESIGN: Nana Biluš Abaffy PERFORMANCE: Nana Biluš Abaffy, Milo Love & Geoffrey Watson COMPOSITION: Peter Poston COSTUMES: Nana Biluš Abaffy & Geoffrey Watson SET CONSTRUCTION: Nana Biluš Abaffy, Milo Love, Geoffrey Watson & Darcey Bella Arnold PRODUCTION MANAGER: Blair Hart PRODUCER: Kristina Arnott
This work has been supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts; the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria; Besen Family Foundation; Lucy Guerin Inc; Next Wave Kickstart; Chunky Move NextMove+.
Thank you to Annabelle Balharry, Lindsay Cox, Aya Hatano and Tim Stone.
"Abaffy and her collaborators - Milo Love and Geoffrey Watson - have created a world with all the cold, white-on-white mystery of a painting by de Chirico. And the choreography, with its meditative tone and elusive symbolism, suggests a kinship with those metaphysical investigations that can be found in modernist art of the last century. Even the title recalls the futurists who promised to murder the moonlight in their quest to overturn traditional ideas of beauty. And one can sense here, amid the ironies and ambiguities, a serious desire to elevate human sensibility. [...] Abaffy has a talent for the composition of theatrical enigmas that fascinate rather than repel. Her method of juxtaposing images creates semantic gaps that open onto the unexpected. Things become other than what are. They become what they could be or should be." - The Age
"Like sleepwalking into a post-reality realm. Plaster casts of the three dancers' bodies, draped in white silk, line the stage. It's reminiscent of the human remains in the fallen town of Pompeii. This is a powerful introduction to Victory Over the Moon. [...] Abaffy's paradoxical fragility and strength especially stand out in this performance. [...] The final scene, in which Love and Abaffy wave white flags of surrender over their heads, is mesmerising, and the repetition here is used to good effect. Dressed in blue velvet, the silk flailing above their heads, they are at once emblematic of Lady Victory and Mary, the mother of Jesus. After almost 50 minutes of circuitous heavy dance moves, this moment is vast, meditative and all-encompassing." - The Saturday Paper