Gideon Obarzanek (born 1966 in Melbourne)
is an Australian choreographer, director and performing arts curator. He was Artistic Associate with the Melbourne Festival (2015–2017), co-curator and director of 'XO State' at the inaugural Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts (Asia TOPA) (2015–2017). Obarzanek was appointed Chair of the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2015 and Strategic Cultural Engagement Manager at Chancellery at the University of Melbourne in 2018.
Gideon Obarzanek spent his early childhood in Israel on an agricultural
kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
. His family returned to Melbourne where he went to the
Australian Ballet School
The Australian Ballet School is the premier ballet training facility in Australia, located in Melbourne.
History
The Australian Ballet School was founded in 1964 as the primary training facility for The Australian Ballet by Dame Margaret Scot ...
, graduating in 1987.
He then danced with the
Queensland Ballet
The Queensland Ballet, founded in 1960 by Charles Lisner OBE, is the premier ballet company of Queensland, Australia and is based in Brisbane. Queensland Ballet is one of only three full-time, professional classical ballet companies in Australi ...
and later joined the
Sydney Dance Company
Sydney Dance Company is a contemporary dance company in Australia. The company has performed on stages around the world, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Joyce Theater in New York, the Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, and the ...
before pursuing a career as a performer and choreographer with various dance companies and independent projects within Australia and abroad. In his early career period he worked with The Australian Ballet, Sydney Dance Company,
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of ...
and the
Netherlands Dance Theatre
Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT; literal translation Netherlands Dance Theatre) is a Dutch contemporary dance company. NDT is headquartered at the ''Amare'' building in The Hague. NDT also performs at other venues in the Netherlands, including Amste ...
.
Obarzanek founded dance company Chunky Move in 1995 and was CEO and Artistic Director until 2012. His works for Chunky Move have been diverse in form and content including stage productions, installations, site-specific works participatory events and film. These have been performed in many festivals and theatres around the world including Edinburgh International BAM Next Wave NY, Venice Biennale, Southbank London and all major Australian performing arts festivals.
As Associate Artist at the
Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...
(2012), Obarzanek wrote and directed the stage play ''Dance Better at Parties''. In 2013 he was awarded an Australia Council Fellowship to further research with other film, dance and theatre makers, new works to be simultaneously created for both stage and screen. In the same year he co-directed the documentary/drama film ''I Want to Dance Better at Parties'' with filmmaker Matthew Bate and won the 2014
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize.
the festival's director is Nashen Moodley.
Histo ...
's Dendy Award for best short film and was broadcast on ABC TV.
Works since 2012
* ''Bangsokol'' – A Requim for Cambodia. Staging Director. Commissioned by Cambodian Living Arts and produced by The Office. Premier BAM Next Wave NYC 2017.
*
Attractor'. Dance/music performance. Co-director and choreographer. Produced by Dancenorth Australia, Lucy Guerin Inc. Asia TOPA, WOMADelaide, Brisbane Festival. Premier Asia TOPA 2017.
''Once Upon a Time in the Western Suburbs'' VR film. Co-writer and director. Commissioned by Art Centre Melbourne and
Closer Productions
Closer Productions is a film and television production company founded by filmmakers Sophie Hyde and Bryan Mason in Adelaide, South Australia, in January 2004. It is known for award-winning feature films such as '' 52 Tuesdays'' (2013) and ''A ...
. Premier 2017.
''Two Jews walk into a theatre...''Play. Co-writer and performer. Produced by Arthouse Melbourne. Premier Arthouse Melbourne 2016.
''Stuck In The Middle With You'' VR film. Co-writer and director. Produced by ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) and Closer Productions. Premier 2016.
''L’Chaim'' Director and choreographer. Produced and performed by Sydney Dance Company. Premier 2014.
''I Want to Dance Better at Parties'' Docudrama film. Co-writer and director. Produced by Closer productions, Adelaide Film Festival and ABC TV. Premier 2013.
* ''Dance Better at Partie''s. Play. Writer and director. Produced and presented by Sydney Theatre Company. Premier 2013.
* ''There’s Definitely a Prince Involved''. Ballet. Director and choreographer. The Australian Ballet. Premier 2012.
Awards
*2017 Helpmann Award Best Dance Production for Attractor.
*2017 Helpmann Award Best Choreography in a Ballet, Dance or Physical Theatre Production for Attractor.
*2014 Sydney Film Festival Dendy Award for best short film for ''I Want to Dance Better at Parties''.
*2013 Australia Council Fellowship
*
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Helpmann Award
The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001.
The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical th ...
best new work for ''Mortal Engine''
*
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Helpmann Award
The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001.
The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical th ...
for ''Glow'' which incorporates sophisticated interactive technology for body, sound and light won the for best ballet or dance work.
*''Dance Like Your Old Man'' a film co-directed with Edwina Throsby won best short documentary at the 2007
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Fest ...
*2005
Bessie Award
The New York Dance and Performance Awards, also known as the Bessie Awards, are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, ...
, with Lucy Guerin and Michael Kantor, for outstanding choreography and creation for Chunky Move's production of ''Tense Dave''.
*2004 Melbourne
Green Room Award
The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne.
The awards were started in 1982 when Blair Edgar and Steven Tandy formed the Green Room Awards A ...
s for best concept and choreography for ''I Want to Dance Better at Parties''
*a
Mo Award
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards) were an annual Australian entertainment industry award, that where established in 1975, to recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia. They were l ...
for best choreography for ''Bonehead'' 1999
*1996 he received the Prime Minister's Young Creative Fellowship
*1997 the inaugural
Australian Dance Award
The Australian Dance Awards recognise excellence and promote dance in Australia. They are awarded under the auspices of the Australian Dance Council (Ausdance) for performance, choreography, design, dance writing, teaching and related professions. ...
for outstanding achievement in choreography
*''Mr Crowther and the Wallflower'', (1989) was filmed and won the Queensland Young Filmmakers Award for 1989.
Works at Chunky Move 1995 - 2011
''Assembly'' (2011)
''Faker'' (2011)
''Connected'' (2011)
''Mortal Engine'' (2009)
''Two Faced Bastard'' (2008) with Lucy Guerin
*''Dance Like Your Old Man'' a film co-directed with Edwina Throsby
''Glow'' (2006)
*''Singularity'', (2006)
*''I Want to Dance Better at Parties'', (2004)
*''Tense Dave'', (2003)
Tobi Tobias, Dance, ''Village Voice'', 24 May 2005
accessed 16 September 2008
*''Three's a Crowd'', (2003)
*''Closer'', (2002)
*''WANTED program - Wanted: Ballet for a Contemporary Democracy Clear Pale Skin'', (2002)
*''Arcade program'', (2001)
**''100% Off ''
*''COMBINATION NO. 3'', (2000)
**''Crumpled''
*''Hydra'', (2000)
*''Live Acts program''
**''Disco.very''
**''Soap''
**''Antistatic''
*''EXPORT FILE program'', (1999)
**''All the Better to Eat You With''
**''Corrupted''
*''BODYPARTS program'', (1999)
**''All the Better to Eat You With''
*''Wet'', (1998)
*''FLESHMEET program'', (1998)
**''Corrupted2''
*''Bonehead'', (1997)
*''Fast Idol'', (1995)
Further reading
*'Gideon Obarzanek: Daring Dance' in Potter, M., (1997), ''A Passion for Dance'', Canberra: National Library of Australia, pp. 79–91.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obarzanek, Gideon
Choreographers from Melbourne
Australian choreographers
Australian male ballet dancers
Living people
1966 births
Date of birth missing (living people)
Australian Ballet School alumni
Contemporary dancers
Helpmann Award winners