Colossus

Stephanie Lake Company

 
  • Artistic,Director
    Choreographer
    Stephanie Lake
  • Date 10.17.Thu. 7:30pm 10.18.Fri. 7:30pm
  • Conversation with Artists 10.17.THU. 7:30pm
    After the performance, a conversation with the artist will take place.
  • Rating 7 and over
  • Venue Arko Arts Theater-Main Hall
  • Duration 50 min.
  • Premiere 2018 Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne
  • Cooperation SungKyunKwan University, Department of Dance
  • Tickets R 60,000won S 40,000won
  • support Creative Australia
    Creative Australia
    Australian Government
    Australian Government
  • Cooperation Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Dance
    Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Dance
    Na-ye Kim Movement Collective
    Na-ye Kim Movement Collective
  • 'Colossus' was originally commissioned by Arts Centre Melbourne and Melbourne Fringe through the Take Over Program
  • This performance is part of the 2023-2024 Seoul Performing Arts Festival Creative Lab 'Next Mobility' project, conducted in collaboration with Sungkyunkwan University Department of Dance and NKMC.

 

The pulsating, tumultuous movements of bodies that disorientate the mind

An exciting and hypnotic dance piece performed by dozens of dancers who move as one, turbulent as waves. 'Next Mobility' questions the new mobility of performing arts

Introduction

Colossus is an exhilarating contemporary dance performance for 45 dancers created by internationally renowned Australian choreographer Stephanie Lake. Colossus had a sold-out premiere season in 2018 at Arts Centre Melbourne and was met with standing ovations, five-star reviews and a rapturous response from audiences. It was listed as the Number 1 show of the year by Time Out Melbourne. The show’s video trailer has since gone viral online, reaching a global audience of over 4.3 million. Colossus has since had a return season in Melbourne and toured to Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Newcastle (Australia), France, Taiwan, Germany, Hong Kong, Geneva, Toronto, Montreal, and Buenos Aires.
This performance is an experimental work presented as part of the Seoul Performing Arts Festival's ongoing 'Next Mobility' project. 'Next Mobility' is a study of alternative mobility in performing arts that has emerged after COVID-19, exploring new ways of international exchange of artworks in response to the changing ways of consuming art in the digital age and environmental sustainability. The ingenious touring model of Colossus means that only the choreographer’s concept travels, whilst the dancers are engaged locally. In intensive rehearsal periods, Stephanie Lake Company will teach and rehearse the work with dancers from Sungkyunkwan University. Synopsis

From darkness they emerge, a dizzying mass of pulsating bodies. The push and pull of humanity is embodied by this heaving throng of life, but can a crowd be more than the sum of its parts? As complex patterns ripple through the flood of figures, a single movement triggers a chain reaction wheeling the fragile whole from chaos to order. This riveting, hypnotic dance work explores relationships between the individual and the collective, solitary striving and joyous union, with a cast of dancers performing as one.

Choreographer
Stephanie Lake

ⓒ Pedro Greig

Stephanie Lake



Artistic Director and Choreographer Stephanie Lake Stephanie Lake is a multi-award-winning choreographer and the artistic director of Stephanie Lake Company based in Melbourne. She is also the Resident Choreographer of The Australian Ballet. Her major works include <Manifesto >, <Circle Electric >, <Colossus >, <Skeleton Tree >, <Pile of Bones >, <AORTA >, <Replica >, <A Small Prometheus >, <Double-Blind >, <Mix Tape > and <DUAL >. Her works have toured across Australia and internationally to Theatre Chaillot Paris, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium, Luxembourg and New Zealand. Lake has created many works for other companies including Sydney Dance Company, Chunky Move, Queensland Ballet, Dancenorth, New Zealand Dance Company, Tasdance, Frontier Danceland (Singapore), Expressions Dance Company and Beijing Dance/LDTX. Lake is a recipient of the prestigious Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, Australia Council Fellowship, Dame Peggy Van Praagh Choreographic Fellowship and Chloe Munro Fellowship. She has been awarded Helpmann, Australian Dance and Green Room Awards for Best Choreography. Lake danced for Lucy Guerin, Chunky Move and BalletLab for nearly twenty years, touring widely. She collaborates across theatre, film, visual art and music video and has directed many large-scale public choreographies involving over 1500 participants.

Lead Rehearsal Director
Nicole Muscat

ⓒ Pedro Greig

Nicole Muscat



Nicole is a contemporary dance artist based in Melbourne. She has worked professionally in the contemporary dance scene in Australia and is Lead Rehearsal Director for Stephanie Lake Company’s Colossus. She has taught and toured Colossus to over 13 cities worldwide. She has been teaching dance for over a decade in many styles, as well as in choreography and technical development.

Rehearsal Director
Marni Green

Marni Green



Marni Green is a dancer based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Marni has worked for artists and companies including Stephanie Lake Company, Chunky Move, Israel Aloni and Lee Brummer. She is currently performing in Stephanie Lake Company’s Manifesto, and in development for Stephanie Lake Company’s new work The Chronicles (premiering in 2025) and is Rehearsal Director for Colossus.

Korean Coordinator·Rehearsal Director·Translator
Kim Na-ye

Na-ye Kim



Na-ye Kim is an associate professor of contemporary dance at Sungkyunkwan University, as well as the artistic director of NKMC (Na-ye Kim Movement Collective). She graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography. She has performed extensively on the global stage with Mikhail Baryshnikov's Hell's Kitchen Dance. Na-ye has also worked with renowned American choreographers, including Gerald Casel, Aszure Barton, Karole Armitage, Bill Young, Kyle Abraham as a freelance dancer in New York. She was a full-time lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, School of Dance between 2016-2019 and is the first Korean certified Countertechnique teacher.

Credits

<Stephany Lake Company>
Choreographer Stephanie Lake
Composer Robin Fox
Lighting Designer Bosco Shaw
Costume Designer Harriet Oxley
Rehearsal Directors Nicole Muscat, Marni Green
Producer Beth Raywood Cross
Production Manager Emily O’Brien
Technical Manager Robert Larsen
Stage Manager Zsuzsa Gaynor Mihaly
Stephanie Lake Company is supported by Creative Victoria, Creative Australia, Canny Quine Foundation, The Humanity Foundation, Arts Projects Australia and generous individual donors.

<Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Dance>
Seoul Coordinator·Rehearsal Director·Translator Kim Na-ye
Dancer Ko Nayoung, Ko Heungyeul, Kwon Daewoo,Kwon Doyeon, Kwon Mirae, Kwon Wojin, Kim Dabin, Kim Richan, Kim Myeongseon, Kim Minjae, Kim Minchae, Kim Somin, Kim Jimin, Kim Jiyu, Kim Chaemin, Kim Haeun, Kim Heeyeon, Na Yoonjae, Noh Eunhee, Mun Jeongyeon, Park Soyun, Park Jinhyun, Byeon Garyeong, Seo Yewon, Seo Jisoo, Seok I Gang, Soh Yejin, Shin Soeun, Ahn Yeseul, Oh Hyunseo, Oh Hyunseok, Oh Hyeonjun, Won Dabin, Lee Dayeon, Lee Jaejeong, Lee Juhee, Im Sangmi, Lim Jaeyoon, Jung Yoonji, Jung Huiyun, Choi Semin, Choi Jiyu, Han Yeowon, Heo Chaeyeon, Hyun Yoon
Cooperation SungKyunKwan University, Department of Dance, NKMC

Stephanie Lake Company

Stephanie Lake Company is a multi-award-winning contemporary dance company based in Melbourne. Known for a gutsy, original choreographic style and striking visual aesthetic, Stephanie Lake Company’s highly acclaimed works include Manifesto, Colossus, Monsters, Skeleton Tree, Replica and Pile of Bones.
Working in collaboration with Australia’s leading dancers and designers, the company has performed in major festivals and venues across Australia and the world, touring internationally to France, Germany, Hong Kong, Denmark, Singapore, Scotland, Canada, Switzerland, Argentina, Geneva, Ireland, Taiwan and beyond. Stephanie Lake Company collaborates across theatre, film, music video, opera and visual art and has created several mass-scale public participation projects for over fifteen hundred participants. Stephanie Lake Company is supported by Creative Victoria, Creative Australia, Canny Quine Foundation, The Humanity Foundation, Arts Projects Australia and generous individual donors.

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  • "The show shines with its beautiful energy. A hymn to life.“
    - Les Echos (Paris)
  • “A human whirlwind that devastates and bewitches. A powerful living mass…in impeccable unison.”
    - Nestor Tirri, La Nacion, Buenos Aires
  • “Thrilling, frightening and entirely unforgettable. Mind boggling...a monumental talent.”
    - Time Out Melbourne
  • “Utterly staggering in its scope and inventiveness. It’s the kind of work that can stun you into silence. Colossus, frankly, stands head and shoulders above the international dance dealing with similar ideas... If you want a sense of just how gripping and affecting contemporary dance can be, this is unmissable.”
    -Time Out Sydney
  • “In just under an hour, we have been taken to another world and experienced something that is wildly mesmerising. When the performance comes to an end, there is stillness and a silence as if we’re not exactly sure what we have just witnessed... before a standing ovation.”
    - Dance Informa