Set in a wrestling ring, HEADLOCK is the multi-award-winning work from Melbourne-based dance theatre company KAGE. HEADLOCK combines contemporary dance and wrestling moves with spoken text and striking visual imagery to tell the story of 21 year old Shane Ryan and his first 24 hours of imprisonment.
HEADLOCK premiered in May 2006 at The Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, attracting critical and popular acclaim and numerous industry awards including: Winner of 4 Green Room Awards for "Outstanding Production", "Outstanding Direction", "Outstanding Ensemble Performance" and "Best Concept & Realization"
Nominated for "Best Choreography" & "Outstanding Visual Design"
Green Room Awards 2006
HEADLOCK also received 2 Australian Dance Awards nominations for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography" (Kate Denborough) and "Best Male Performer" (Byron Perry).
HEADLOCK is the story of 3 brothers -- tonight, one of them is spending his first night in prison.
The audience is invited to spend the first 24 hours of his incarceration with Shane - a young offender who has been picked up on a minor misdemeanor. Shane has never been locked up before and his youthful bravado offers little comfort or protection on the inside.
Alone and scared, Shane recalls times spent with his two brothers - Matthew and Dean (the latter now deceased from his own reckless collision with the law) - the memories acting like an antidote to the reality he now finds himself in.
Although alone, Matthew and Dean are always 'with' Shane and, despite the terror and isolation of prison, Shane -- and the audience - feels a sense of hope that, ultimately, he will not follow the same path as his older brother.
"Kage Physical Theatre has created a stunning piece of theatre in Headlock...A moving and impressive exploration of being male". The Sunday Age (May 2006)
"Headlock surprises, thrills, shocks and irritates. It is an exploration of maleness and mateship, displaying innocence, beauty and horror... a powerful work of physical theatre" The Age (May 2006)
"An emotionally devastating portrayal of the bravado and vulnerability of masculinity...Performers Byron Perry, Luke Hockley and Gerard Van Dyck are breath taking. The sheer bloody minded dynamism and emotional depth of these hell raising performances is a wild, explosive, multi-faceted trip into the masculine psyche. The set, lighting music and costumes are magnificently cohesive. There is not a single false note with these production values...Kage has achieved a profoundly rich production with Headlock. It is physically thrilling, precise and riotously vigorous. The final scene of this stunning production is the most moving theatre experience I have ever had, and I won't ruin it by describing it. Go see it". Melbourne Stage (May 2006)
ABOUT KAGE
KAGE is the creative partnership of Kate Denborough and Gerard Van Dyck.
Kate and Gerard's visionary partnership has sparked for almost a decade, creating original performance works which merge extraordinary visual design, physical dexterity and humour, and humanity, in abundance. Since the Company's performance debut in 1997, KAGE has propelled dance theatre into fresh territory, claiming international awards, recognition and new audiences along the way.
Inspired and informed equally by contemporary culture and vintage performance styles, KAGE defies categorisation. The company aims to produce work which captivates and uplifts audiences; rich and raw, subtle yet razor sharp, delicate yet intensely moving.
KAGE strives to create work that's felt as often as it's explained. Technically rigorous and visually striking physical performance becomes a platform for work about the subtlety of experience - about the millions of gigantic-yet-tiny, deeply felt, funny and ultimately connected moments that make up our lives. Success, failure, awkwardness, panic, tears and reckless joy. The work of KAGE is to render physical these, and other human experiences.
KAGE reveals the magical and exposes the interior landscapes of the disaffected. Not quite dance. Not quite theatre. Not circus, or poems, or dreams; but like these. KAGE strikes out for new ground, innovating and re-conceiving performance to draw humour, humanity and pathos from the physicality of human bodies.
CONTACT
Jennifer Barry of Keep Breathing Productions (www.keepbreathing.com.au) is the producer for all Australian and international presentations of the work. For enquiries, Jennifer can be contacted on (03) 9329 4044 or at: jennifer@keepbreathing.com.au Enquiries can also be directed to Kate Denborough, Artistic Director, at kate@kage.com.au
www.kage.com.au
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Paul Selwyn Norton/Chunky Move 'The Rogue Tool'by PAULSELWYNNORTON1,523 views
amazing vid dude
TonyHujek 2 months ago
btw...can u please tell who the sad song at the end is by
prettyravegirl96 3 years ago
i saw this play in 2006 for school and ive never seen anything like it, this video doesnt do it justice! it was INCREDIBLE!
prettyravegirl96 3 years ago
totally intriguing - both the video and the title Headlock ?
I love this sort of street edge spin on dance.
tigerboy27 3 years ago
This is an amazing show! You can see it at the Adelaide Festival Centre from May 8 - 10 and at the Studio at the Sydney Opera House from 20 - 24th May 2008 - Don't miss it!
GrassArtist 3 years ago 2
This video really got me breathing HARD! Those guys are AWESOME!!! You can wrestle me anytime... :)
jenkeepsbreathing 3 years ago