Anouk van Dijk

In this first episode of season two, we get acquainted with Anouk van Dijk, the Artistic Director of Melbourne based Chunky Move. Anouk originates from Holland, where she started to seriously pursue dance in her late teens, after watching a dancer called Ian- a man she has never met or seen since. Watching Ian move across the space was captivating: “I will never forget…Ian filled the room. He filled the room with energy, with his passion, with his power. That was it. I was sold […] I wanted to be a dancer”. As a dancer, Anouk danced for Werkcentrum Dans, the Nieuwe Dansgroep, the Rotterdance Dance Company and Amanda Miller’s Pretty Ugly Dance Company. In 1998, Anouk formed her own company, anoukvandijk dc, based in Amsterdam. The company toured extensively including performing at Festival d’Avignon, MASS MoCA, Dance Triennale Tokyo, American Dance Festival and Festival TransAmériques. It also toured to Australia, performing at Adelaide Festival, Sydney Opera House and Perth International Arts Festival, but never to Melbourne, a place Anouk would later call home. After Chunky Move founder Gideon Obarzanek (interviewed in season one) stepped down in 2012, Anouk was offered the job of taking Chunky Move into their next chapter. Anouk certainly had no small task ahead of her, replacing someone held in such high regard. However, since her appointment, Anouk has done just that, creating her own diverse range of works for the company, with themes around identity and place and has solidified her place in landscape of Australian dance. Australia has become home! Works Anouk has created for Chunky Move • An Act of Now • 247 Days • Embodiment 1:1:1 • gentle is the power • Complexity of Belonging • Depth of Field • Rule of Thirds • L U C I D Anouk was rehearsing for the upcoming show ANTI—GRAVITY when we recorded this interview. ANTI—GRAVITY is an Asia TOPA Commission that will be premiered as part of Dance Massive 2017. A collaboration with multimedia artist Ho Tzu Nyen, ANTI—GRAVITY is an exploration of clouds: “the yearning for this lightness….not being earth bound, completely”. The conversation covered everything from: the process of making a work, collaborations, clouds, home, inspiration and Countertechnique (a system that helps dancers throughout their careers).