More Adelaide Festival dance!

The Adelaide Festival announced its key dance attraction – the return of Akram Kahn in Xenos – a couple of weeks ago. But it has been keeping some other dance highlights up its sleeve.

Co-artistic directors Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy have also programmed Split, by Lucy Guerin Company. Split premiered at the 2017 Dance Massive Festival in Melbourne, and went on to receive a nomination for Best Choreography and for Best Female Dancer for its two exponents, Lilian Steiner and Melanie Lane, and to win a Helpmann Award for Best Female Dancer for Steiner. Split runs from March 2 to 5 at the AC Arts Main Theatre.

Also on the bill is Bangarra’s Bennelong, choreographed by the company’s artistic director, Stephen Page, and which Armfield describes as “arguably his greatest work”.Bennelong plays at the Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, March 15 to 18. And from Spain comes Flamenco dancer Israel Galvan with Fla.Co.Men.  Although one often hears about Flamenco dancers subverting the form, Armfield assures us that Galvan really does break free: “One of his pleasures is playing with the idea of machismo in Flamenco dance”. Fla.Co.Men. is on at Her Majesty's Theatre from March 9 to 11.

For more details about the mouthwatering program of outstanding musical and theatrical events, go here. Our announcement about Akram Kahn's Xenos is here.

Armfield and Healy have had their terms as artistic directors of the festival extended to 2021.

Photo above is Lilian Steiner (top) and Melanie Lane, taken by Ryuichi Marui Yamaguchi.