Classes at
Chunky Move
Our Class Program runs 6 days year round, offering adult beginner and open level classes in the contemporary style.
All of our classes are taught by Chunky Move artists who are experienced professional dancers and teachers working within Melbourne’s esteemed contemporary dance community.
CONTEMPORARY OPEN:
Recommended for intermediate to professional level dancers as well as people who regularly attend dance classes.
CONTEMPORARY BEGINNER:
Suitable for people with little to no dance experience. The schedule also features our Complete Beginner Series, which runs for 4 weeks.
COUNTERTECHNIQUE:
Countertechnique is a sophisticated system of movement training, enabling dancers to move bigger, more fluidly and more spatially, while becoming stronger and more flexible. Recommend for intermediate to advanced movers.
OPEN CLASS:
Utilising the vehicle of street dance styles such as Hip-hop Freestyle, House, Popping & Krump, these classes are centred around an explorative practice appropriate for dancers of all levels.
| PRICES | Full | Artist/Concession |
| Single Class | $25 | $15 |
| 5 Class Pass | $100 | $70 |
| 10 Class Pass | $180 | $130 |
| Unlimited 3 Month Pass | $250 | – |
| Unlimited 6 Month Pass | $400 | – |
| Series Single | $25 | – |
| Series Enrolment (4 weeks) | $100 | – |
| 50+ Series Single | $20 | – |
| 50+ Series Enrolment (6 weeks) | $110 | – |
Please note all class participants must be 18+ years old.
See schedule below for bookings.
What’s On
Experiences for
Schools
Chunky Move offers dance workshops through its Experiences for Schools program, giving students the opportunity to connect with working industry professionals and deepen their understanding of contemporary dance.
These workshops are taught by Chunky Move company artists, who all have significant teaching experience across age and ability as active professionals within Melbourne’s vibrant contemporary dance scene. Our workshop facilitators are generous, supportive, and inclusive.
We have a range of workshops on offer, suitable from Primary age to VCE level, each tailorable to meet your students’ needs.
Visit our studios in the heart of Melbourne’s Southbank arts precinct or let a facilitator come to you. Each type of workshop experience can be offered as an excursion, incursion, or as a live digital offering via Zoom for regional or interstate schools.
For more information, please contact info@chunkymove.com.au or call us on (03) 9645 5188.
Conversing with Kathak – rhythm, movement, gesture
Led by Calcutta-based artist Vikram Iyengar, this two-day workshop series will explore the kathak form and how it conceives of rhythmic structure, movement dynamics, and gesture.
Vikram is a dancer-choreographer-director, curator-presenter, and arts researcher-writer. He is the artistic director and co-founder of Ranan Performance Collective and the Pickle Factory Dance Foundation.
Suitable for dancers/movement artists with a contemporary dance practice.
Attending both days is encouraged to maximise your experience, but single day bookings are possible as we understand availabilities may be limited.
Dates: Tuesday 25 & Wednesday 26 March
Duration: 3 hours, 9:30am—12:30pm each day
Fees: $25 single class, or $45 double pass
Location: Chunky Move studios, 111 Sturt St Southbank 3006
These workshops extrapolate from Vikram Iyengar’s decades of work with the kathak form and his ongoing research into the movement principles that define it. Divided into three major elements, the workshops will explore how kathak conceives of rhythmic structure, movement dynamics, and gesture. These workshops are designed for dancers and movement artists coming from contemporary dance practices, aiming to bridge the distance between how the dancing body, time and space are perceived in these two distinct styles.
Participants will explore cyclical time patterns that form the foundation of kathak, moving into the overlaying of rhythm both conceptually and technically through simple walking exercises, progressively complex footwork, and speaking of syllables. The workshops will touch on descriptive terminologies of movement – such as extensions, verticality, pirouettes, etc – and explore how differently kathak asks us to feel and mould them in our bodies. Participants will delve into the world of gesture, both as pure movement and as coded meaning, investigating the interplay between the two to see where they can intersect and where they diverge.
Drawing from techniques and principles familiar to contemporary dancers, the workshops will gradually transition into a less familiar domain of movement practice. The aim is to conceptually expand the notions of how movement and choreographic structures can be imagined, constructed and performed, regardless of one’ training background.
Vikram Iyengar is an arts leader and connector based in Calcutta, India, and working internationally. He is a dancer-choreographer-director, curator-presenter, and arts researcher-writer. Co-founder and artistic director of Ranan Performance Collective, he also initiated and leads the Pickle Factory Dance Foundation – a hub for dance and movement practice and discourse. His scope of work spans practice, discourse, critique, ideation and management, and revolves around the central tenet of creating deep connections with and through the arts.
Performance Work:
Trained in kathak by Padmashree Smt. Rani Karnaa, Vikram’s performance work is noted for the conscious bringing together of classical dance, movement, drama and design creating an experience of total theatre. His range of work spans choreography for stage and film, dance and theatre explorations, and performance collaborations. This diversity is linked by a fundamental and continuing engagement with the principles of the kathak form and the kathak informed body and mind, exploring and engaging in multiple dialogues to create fresh challenges within, and in relation to, the form.
Vikram’s international credits include choreographer for Academy Award winner Florian Gallenberger’s film, Shadows in Time and co-choreographer on Helena Waldmann’s Faust prize nominated piece Made in Bangladesh. Since 2013, he has worked regularly with Indian contemporary dancer-choreographer Preethi Athreya on solo and group projects.
Academics and Research:
An INLAKS scholar with an MA in Performing Arts from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Vikram has taught Asian and Intercultural Theatre at BA and MA levels in the UK. He regularly contributes articles and papers to various publications and international seminars, conducts a variety of workshops, and works on arts research projects for institutions in India and abroad. Empaneled with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and various other national bodies, he is a recipient of the Government of India National Scholarship and National Junior Fellowship for Dance. He was co-editor of the India Theatre Forum’s web theatre journal, e-Rang from 2009 to 2015. He has conducted guest lectures regularly at Jadavpur and Presidency Universities, Calcutta.
Awards and Affiliations:
An ARThink South Asia Arts Management Fellow, 2013-2014, Vikram is a Global Fellow of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) 2017, 2019, and 2020, and a member of Creative Tracks, an international platform connecting arts entrepreneurs. He was one of the four Asia Pacific delegates in the Australia Arts Council’s International Arts Leaders Programme, 2017-2018. In December 2015, he was awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the field of contemporary dance by the national Sangeet Natak Akademi. He is currently one of ten Global Connectors from across the world for IETM – the International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts.
Across, not Over (India 2016). Image by Belinda Lawley, Southbank Centre London
50+ Complete Beginner Series
Join Deanne Butterworth for a six week series designed specifically for those 50 and above.
Fees: $20 Single Class
Sign up for the full six weeks or drop in and pay as you go.
No booking ahead required (although encouraged).
Weekly Tuesday nights 6:30pm – 8pm (90 min)
Week 1: Tue 24 Sept
Week 2: Tue 1 Oct
Week 3: Tue 8 Oct
Week 4: Tue 15 Oct
Week 5: Tue 22 Oct
Week 6: Tue 29 Oct
Running for 6 weeks from Tuesday 24 September, this series is open to persons 50 years and older looking for an inclusive and fun introduction to contemporary dance.
Over the weeks, you will be guided through simple sequences and explore natural, spontaneous movement and self-expression. This series will gradually build on skills, concepts and choreography. Sign up for the full 6 weeks or drop in and pay as you go.
Suitable for absolute beginners or those returning to dance after a hiatus, regardless how short or long!
Deanne is a highly respected performer, choreographer, and teacher. Melbourne based for 25 years she has shown work across many platforms including, Next Wave Festival, NGV, Dancehouse, Lucy Guerin Inc., Melbourne Fringe, Dance New Amsterdam (NYC), Hong Kong (with Jo Lloyd), WestSpace, Bus Gallery, Ian Potter Museum, Carriageworks, Temperance Hall, MONAFOMA and more. Her work traverses public and private spheres to include incidental performances in the everyday and the role of the spectator. Her work has been situated in galleries, theatres, museums, outdoors, and created for film.
Video still by COCO and MAXIMILIAN
First Peoples Youth Dance Workshops
Commencing in April 2021, Chunky Move in partnership with Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Cooperative offers a First Peoples youth dance school holiday workshop program (ages primary to high school). This program runs in Donald during the April school holidays, Stawell during the June school holidays, and Horsham during the September school holidays. Hosted by Chunky Move’s Ngioka Bunda-Heath (Wakka Wakka, Ngugi, Birrpai) in collaboration with various First Nation guest male facilitators. Participants will engage in movement workshops consisting of contemporary technique, and hip-hop classes and learn fusion routines inspired by stories shared by Wotjobaluk Elders and Senior Community members.
In 2023, the First Peoples Youth Dance Workshops have grown to include a new partnership with the Aboriginal Wellness Foundation and the community of Wyndham Vale. Ngioka teaches movement workshops to Youth, Teens, and a Women’s group in quarters two and four out of the Wunggurrwil Dhurrung Centre.
For more information on Chunky Move’s First Peoples Youth Dance Workshops please email Ngioka Bunda-Heath at ngioka@chunkymove.com.au. Supported by VicHealth Reimagining Health JumpStart! grant.
Bala Neba and Ngioka Bunda-Heath teaching at our Dimboola April 2021 workshop
Classes FAQs
How do I book in?
We use Mindbody for all class bookings. Mindbody is an online scheduling software that you will need to sign up to before booking into class at Chunky Move. It is free to sign up.
What should I wear and bring?
We recommend wearing non-restrictive track style pants or leggings, t-shirt or sports top. Classes are done without shoes, but socks may be worn as you warm up. Bring a drink bottle to stay hydrated.
Is there an age limit?
All class participants must be 18+ years old.
What are the class fees?
You can pay via EFTPOS at the front desk or online through your Mindbody account.
| ITEM | FULL | ARTIST/CONCESSION |
| Single Class | $25 | $15 |
| 5 Class Pass | $100 | $70 |
| 10 Class Pass | $180 | $130 |
| Unlimited 3 Month Pass | $250 | – |
| Unlimited 6 Month Pass | $400 | – |
What is the Refund Policy?
Please choose carefully. We do not offer refunds for missed classes.
We are unable to provide partial refunds or account credits for any classes missed within a Full Series Enrollment.
What are the facilities on site?
We have two studios that classes take place in. Showers and change room facilities are available. Please bring your own towel should you wish to shower. There are none available on site to hire.
For further information on any of the above, please contact Chunky Move on (03) 9645 5188 or email info@chunkymove.com.au