Stuck in the Middle With You

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) is proud to present their first virtual reality (VR) commission, Closer Productions and Sydney Dance Company's Stuck in the Middle With You.

Jointly directed by award-winning filmmaker Matthew Bate and internationally acclaimed director/choreographer Gideon Obarzanek, Stuck in the Middle With You is a virtual reality experience in which the viewer becomes part of the on stage performance of a live dance work originally choreographed by Obarzanek for the Sydney Dance Company ensemble.

Fusing choreography, performance, documentary and drama this landmark moving image work is free to experience daily at ACMI from Saturday 5 March to Monday 14 March 2016.

Stuck in the Middle With You marks ACMI's first VR commission. Director and CEO, Katrina Sedgwick said today this represents an organisational and industry shift toward a hybrid creative approach.

'Stuck in the Middle With You is a unique work in its approach to VR. This is a cross-disciplinary collaboration which uses pioneering VR technology to capture a live performance experience in an entirely new, immersive platform," said Sedgwick. 'It not only places the viewer in the middle of the stunning dancers of Sydney Dance Company in a way that could never be possible in a theatre space, but it is both funny and surprising in this adaptation of this critically acclaimed dance piece."

Sydney Dance Company Artistic Director, Rafael Bonachela, who commissioned the original dance work on which the film was developed, L'Chaim (2014), said he had no hesitation in being a part of the project.

'When Gideon approached me last year proposing L'Chaim become a world-first virtual reality dance film, I jumped at the chance. As Australia's leading contemporary dance company we are committed to being at the forefront of new developments," he said. 'Stuck in the Middle With You provides an incredible opportunity to not only showcase Australian choreography and dance talent, but also to expand audiences by bringing more and more people - quite literally, through the virtual reality experience - into the world of contemporary dance."

Matthew Bate, Director at Closer Productions, had previously collaborated with Obarzanek on a short docu-drama, I Want To Dance Better At Parties, which won the Dendy Award for Best Short Film at the 2014 Sydney Film Festival.

'I liked the idea that for the first time ever Sydney Dance Company could dance for you and you alone – that their focus would not be an audience in the stalls, but rather the audience would be you, standing amongst them on stage," said Bate.

"This collaboration has enabled an exciting and daring venture into this new world of virtual reality," continued Bate. 'To have everyone come on board this experiment in dance storytelling with such enthusiasm has been incredible, and to have it commissioned by and shown at ACMI speaks to a wonderful kind of creative risk taking. We hope that by utilising this new storytelling technology the viewer can experience dance in a new way and from a perspective they may never otherwise get. I think we're on the verge of a revolution in the way we experience stories using VR – and we are more than excited to have taken this first step with these incredible partners."

The VR dance and drama narrative has the viewer waking up on stage in a packed auditorium, amidst a frenetic performance by the Sydney Dance Company. As the dance evolves, the viewer begins to interact with the dancers, interrogating them about the nature of dance before becoming a part of the performance themselves.

Choreographer Gideon Obarzanek said Stuck in the Middle With You inverts the traditional spectator-to-dancer viewpoint, investigating what it means to be a performer.

'Working closely with dancers in a studio I have always thought the best experience of what they do is to be right amongst them. VR literally places you in the centre free to look around and I find this position so natural I'm convinced in a few short years we will look back at traditional screen viewing as a contrived way of seeing," said Obarzanek.