The Adelaide Festival has a history of presenting groundbreaking dance to audiences. It was this festival that first introduced Pina Bausch Tanz Theater Wuppertal to Australia, in 1982, with Nelken. It invited the company again in 2016 and 2022. Next year, once again thanks to the Adelaide Festival, audiences will have a chance to experience this legendary ensemble once more, under its new artistic director.
Boris Charmatz, who stepped into the role in 2022, is considered one of the pioneers of French conceptual dance. The Adelaide season will present two of his works, both of which will be experienced by audiences standing on the stage. In Aatt enen tionon, his radical first choreographic work from 1996, dancers are isolated over three elevated platforms, while in herses, duo, two dancers are tangled closely together, their exposed bodies never leaving one another. They will share the bill with Pina Bausch’s Café Müller, considered by many to be one of the most influential dance pieces of the 20th century. All are presented under the umbrella title of "Club Amour". March 10-16, Festival Theatre.
Another major dance highlight will be Australian Dance Theatre in the premiere of Artistic Director Daniel Riley’s A Quiet Language. The company will be celebrating its 60th year in 2025, and this work promises to "fearlessly interrogate its legacy in a work that sees the company step backwards and forwards, exploring the history of Australian dance as it is held in the body and written across the country upon which we tread, and transmuting the rebellious energy of the company’s early days into an electric new era". The work will take "inspiration from the founding spirit of the company, and the fearlessness of our founding Artistic Director, Elizabeth Cameron Dalman," Riley says. This will be an Australian premiere at The Odeon, February 26 – March 6.
Another highlight is Rocío Molina. “After her New York City Center debut, the great Mikhail Baryshnikov fell to his knees in homage,” Adelaide Festival trumpets in its publicity material. Choreographer and dancer Molina pushes the boundaries of flamenco, while respecting its essence. She was awarded the prestigious Silver Lion at La Biennale di Venezia’s Dance Biennial in 2022. She will present Caída del Cielo (Fallen from Heaven), which shakes up the traditional guitar, cajón and clapping hands combination with drum kit and electric guitar. (Her Majesty’s February 28 – March 3).
Also internationally acclaimed, Lucy Guerin will be presenting One Single Action in an Ocean of Everything. A piece for two dancers, ". . .in and out of sync, in conflict and in harmony, moving through fragmented terrain,” this new work is promised to stay with audiences long after its complex soundscape has faded. (AC Arts from February 26 – March 5).
On the opening weekend of the Festival, a one-moment-in-time dusk "happening" will occur, as a mass of 1000 dancers converge onto the natural amphitheatre of Elder Park for MASS MOVEMENT. Conceived by one of Australia’s foremost choreographers, Stephanie Lake, this promises to be on a scale never before seen at Adelaide Festival, with dancers from every age group and genre coming together in a celebration of synchronised mass-movement. It's free! (Saturday March 1.)
For the full Adelaide Festival program, go here.