Exciting, in-demand, independent choreographer Antony Hamilton, who blew audiences away with his work Forever & Ever for Sydney Dance Company last October, is currently feeling his way into his new role as Artistic Director and joint CEO, with Kristy Ayre, of Chunky Move. But before he takes up the position full-time in April, he is staging a new work called Universal Estate for Melbourne’s Dance Massive.

Antony Hamilton. Photograph © Simon Obarzanek

Presented by Arts House, Universal Estate runs for four hours – though Hamilton expects that audiences will only stay for a part of that time then move on to make room for others. Described as “a world of light, sound, objects and movement; a living sculpture where retro-futurism meets contemporary nihilism”, Universal Estate features two dancers (Cody Laverty and Kyall Shanks) as two humans navigating an environment of strange technological objects with no known function. The piece explores our throw-away society’s obsession with the next thing, and “how we can find meaning in a world made up of the material things of past generations”. Antony Hamilton spoke to Limelight about his new role at Chunky Move and the world he has created for Universal Estate.

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