Chunky Move is located on the unceded lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations. We respectfully acknowledge the significant contributions of Australia’s First Peoples, and are committed to supporting the continuity of culture and relationship to this land.
Classes at
Chunky Move
Our Class Program runs 6 days a week featuring Contemporary OPEN and BEGINNER classes.
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.
OPEN classes:
Recommended for intermediate to professional level dancers as well as people who regularly attend dance classes.
BEGINNER classes:
Suitable for people with little to no dance experience. The schedule also features our Complete Beginner Series, which runs for 4 weeks.
COUNTER TECHNIQUE:
Countertechnique is a sophisticated system of movement training, enabling dancers to move bigger, more fluidly and more spatially, while becoming stronger and more flexible.
Please note all class participants must be 18+ years old
See schedule below for bookings.
What’s On
HollowBody™️ Masterclass & Repertoire
by The Human Expression Dance Company (Singapore)
Led by founding artistic director and main choreographer of Singapore’s T.H.E Dance Company, Kuik Swee Boon, and full-time dance artist, Fiona Thng, this two-part session will comprise a HollowBody™️ workshop and the learning of an excerpt from Infinitely Closer, Swee Boon’s latest commissioned work that premiered in 2022 and will make its way to OzAsia Festival in Adelaide from 27—28 October 2023.
Suitable for: Professional and semi-professional dance artists, dancers, full-time dance students aged 18 and above, and movement enthusiasts who are comfortable with improvisation.
Times: 5:30pm—8:30pm
Location: Chunky Move studios, 111 Sturt Street Southbank VIC 3006
The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company was founded in 2008 by Artistic Director Kuik Swee Boon. Rooted firmly in Singapore yet universal in its perspective, T.H.E’s contemporary dance works reveal the body as a medium for exploring and celebrating the human condition.
Dance artists at T.H.E are immersed in the Company’s signature methodology, HollowBody, which guides them to access their deeper instincts and impulses through movement. The Company’s movement vocabulary is distinct in its intensely personal aesthetics, yet thrilling in its diversity. Driven by a sincere desire to uncover the intricate, complex and oft-times overlooked dimensions of human existence, the Company’s incisive observations are an essential mirror to the issues and rhythms of contemporary life.
HollowBody™️ is the signature methodology and movement philosophy advocated by founding artistic director and main choreographer of Singapore’s T.H.E Dance Company, Kuik Swee Boon; it is the current methodology with which the dance artists at T.H.E train. Neither a mere movement aesthetic nor an existential state of being, it is an experiential process, utilising improvisational tools to guide practitioners towards a heightened physiological awareness that resonates in their movement choice, approach, and expression.
HollowBody™️ is based on the understanding of the body as the foundation of our world. As a vessel for thoughts, emotions and energy, our embodied experiences and knowledge transcend language and logic. The HollowBody™️ methodology seeks to establish in its practitioner a level of trust and access that can surface these deep impulses and needs, and unearth an innate connectivity between mind, heart, and body. With the practitioner’s curiosities, potential, and limitations becoming wholly available to themselves, self-understanding and creative expression unfold.
Today, long-term practice of the HollowBody™️ methodology has fed naturally into T.H.E’s creation and performance voice. We at T.H.E believe that with HollowBody™️, dance and movement can be embraced as a fundamental pillar in life that offers a deep connection to the body, and in turn, the world.
Photo by Joie Koo
Experiences for
schools
All of Chunky Move’s Experiences for Schools are taught by Chunky Move dance artists who have significant teaching experience across age and ability. Each facilitator is an experienced professional dancer working within Melbourne’s esteemed contemporary dance industry. Every member of our teaching team is generous, supportive and professional and holds a current Working with Children Check.
The below experiences are all available as incursions, excursions or as live digital offerings via Zoom.
We have a range of workshops available, from Primary age to VCE level, and we can also tailor workshops to meet your needs.
Excursion Option
Dance workshops are held at Chunky Move’s purpose-built dance studios, featuring sprung flooring, moveable mirrors and high-quality audio system. Situated in the heart of Melbourne’s arts precinct, the studios are easily accessible by public transport.
Incursion Option
Upon request, dance workshops can be held at your school. Please bear in mind that you must be able to provide a suitable venue and that an extra fee may be charged to cover the teacher’s travel expenses.
Please click here for our booking form.
For more information please contact info@chunkymove.com.au for more information or call us on 03 9645 5188.
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
YIRRAMBOI
YIRRAMBOI festival platforms the interconnectedness and diversity of First Nations creatives, locally, nationally and internationally. A 10 day feast of mediums spanning the breadth of artistic expressions with a collective voice of resilience and evolutionary practices. Emerging, mid-career and established First Nations creatives taking back space to crack open the heart of Melbourne, revealing the hum of country beneath.
In 2023, Chunky Move presented a series of dynamic dance classes led by leading First Nations dance artists curated by Ngioka Bunda-Heath (Wakka Wakka, Ngugi, Birrpai).
Teachers included Thomas E.S Kelly, Joel Bray, Zoe Brown-Holten, Amelia O’Leary, Tyrel Dulvarie, Jasmin Sheppard, and Rheannan Port.
