Australia Dancing - Hamilton, Antony (1978

Hamilton, Antony (1978 - )

Antony Hamilton's first dance experience was breakdancing as a six year old. He began formal dance training in 1987 under the guidance of Joan and Monica Halliday at the Halliday Dance Centre where he studied ballet, jazz, contemporary and folk dance. From 1994 to 1996 he trained at the McDonald College under the tutelage of Allan Cross and Josephine Jason. Following this, he began his dance diploma at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He also undertook an international exchange in 1998 with Purchase College at The State University of New York.

In 1999 Hamilton joined Australian Dance Theatre under interim director Bill Pengelly. During Pengelly's term as director, Hamilton performed in works by Pengelly, Csaba Buday, Alfred Taahi, Garry Stewart and Bernadette Walong. With Garry Stewart's arrival as artistic director in 2000, he performed and developed roles in Plastic Space (2000), Birdbrain (2001), Monstrosity (2001), The Age of Unbeauty (2002) and later as guest artist in HELD (2004). He also began work with Kate Denborough through her commissioned piece for Australian Dance Theatre, Misfit (2001).

In 2002, Hamilton relocated to Melbourne as a freelance dancer to work with Kage Physical Theatre under Kate Denborough, Chunky Move under Gideon Obarzanek and Lucy Guerin Inc under Lucy Guerin. With Denborough he worked on Nowhere Man (2003). With Chunky Move he has performed in Wanted - Ballet for a Contemporary Democracy (2002), Clear Pale Skin (2002), Crumpled (2002), Corrupted ll (2002), Crowds (2003), I Want To Dance Better At Parties (2004), Infinite Temporal Series (2005, choreographer Prue Lang), Singularity (2006), Mortal Engine (2008) and Two Faced Bastard (2008). With Lucy Guerin, he has worked on Aether (2005), Structure and Sadness (2006), Corridor (2008) and Untrained (2008).

As choreographer, Hamilton has created I Like This (2007) for Chunky Move co-directed by Byron Perry, The Sleeping End (2006) for Dance North, as well as a number of short works for The Victorian College of the Arts, Stompin and Rogue. He has also made numerous short works for Australian Dance Theatre's 'Ignition' seasons and Lucy Guerin Inc's 'Pieces for Small Spaces' seasons. In 2008 he directed and choreographed his first independent full-length work Blazeblue Oneline. In 2009 the work received Greenroom awards for set and/or costume design, and for concept/realisation.

Hamilton was the inaugural recipient of both the Russell Page Fellowship in 2004, and the Tanja Liedtke Fellowship in 2009. He was also winner of the Greenroom award for best male dancer in 2005 and the 2009 Helpmann Award for best male dancer in a dance or physical theatre production for his performance in Chunky Move's Two Faced Bastard. Other notable dance work includes collaborations with film director Kris Moyes for music video and television, and choreography for multiple ARIA award winning band 'The Presets'. Hamilton's enthusiasm for breakdance continued over the years, and saw him training on the streets of Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and New York with various crews. It remains a passion in his life and has contributed substantially to his unique hybrid style of performance and choreography.

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