60 years of constant motion
Australian Dance Theatre kicks of its 60th anniversary by looking backwards and forwards and bending time and space.
“I was confident that I didn’t want to remount any works during ADT’s 60th year – I didn’t want to only look back. I wanted to look forward. I wanted to look at what it means to dance on Kaurna Yerta and what it has meant – dance is ritual, it’s ceremony, its celebration, its protest … that’s all at play in A Quiet Language.”
Daniel Riley sits in the rehearsal room for his latest work for Australian Dance Theatre, A Quiet Language. The dancers are going through a section of the show they’ve nicknamed ‘hot slaps’.
“Why hot slaps?’ we ask. “You’ll see,” he smiles.
The dancers erupt into a section of the show about the body, freedom and finding unapologetic joy in movement. The dancers exhale, sweat, smile, groove with abandon.
It’s a departure from Riley’s previous work, the hard-hitting Marrow – which was a relentless exploration of colonial violence set against the backdrop of the failed 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum.
Created for the company’s 60th anniversary and premiering as part of the Adelaide Festival, A Quiet Language is still, in Riley’s trademark style, deeply political and personal.
It draws a line between present-day social upheaval and that of the company’s founding days in 1965, while also leaning on the immense joy that can be sparked through movement.
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“The 60’s and 70’s were incredibly political – the company was creating works protesting the Vietnam war, women’s social issues and both National and International politics,” Dan says.
“Against the backdrop of rising Blak political movements – talks of treaties, land rights and recognition of First Nations people – were all swirling around the country.
“At the centre of it all was the dance, the body – which is able to hold all of these conversations at once.
“It’s body, it’s politics, it’s culture, it’s people and it’s place. And it’s about the collective, the ensemble, the people in the room together.”
This line started by bringing ADT’s founding artistic director, Elizabeth Cameron Dalman OAM CdOAL, into the room to provide context about the company’s early days.
Riley, in consultation with artistic associate Brianna Kell and the ensemble of Company Artists, took these initial conversations and movements and started to build a forward-looking work.
“We started talking about our own politics. About our own relationship to movement, to Country, to the company,” Dan explains.
“What does it mean to dance here? And how can we imagine a future together through realising a collective response to our current place in history?”
In many ways, A Quiet Language, is a celebration of the dancer’s body and the infinite ways in which it can communicate.
This is all bolstered by a live, looping, score created by lauded South Australian jazz musician Adam Page, which has turned the dancer’s bodies, voices, breath and footsteps into a sonic palette that he is drawing from to create the thumping music for the work, which the company is describing as an electric happening through time and place.
“Adam has turned the entire theatre into an instrument,” laughs Dan, “it’s been pretty amazing to watch him and the dancers collaborate and connect throughout the performance.
“Everything feels physical and kinetic and really hits hard … the show is so much fun. It’s grounded in the past but it all feels very current – and completely of the moment. I can’t wait to keep building it with the team.”
This all isn’t to say that the iconic company isn’t taking stock of its past at all – while the company looks forward, a team of expert researchers is looking back and exploring ADT’s (often tumultuous) history.
In a project led by Dr Maggie Tonkin, Associate Professor Cheryl Stock AM and Professor Rachel Fensham, ADT’s archive is being digitised and preserved with the support of an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant.
Alongside this digitisation will be After Images, a free exhibition that seeks to reactivate seminal choreographies from each of ADT’s Artistic Directors.
Curated by Dr Maggie Tonkin, Dr Siobhan Murphy and ADT’s own Adrianne Semmens, in collaboration with Helen Trepa from Adelaide Festival Centre’s Performing Arts Collection, the exhibition aims to crystallise key moments in the history of a company in near-constant motion.
“ADT is the oldest continuing contemporary dance company in the country – the work that has been created by each artistic director has had an indelible mark on the culture,” Dan says.
“Each of them has changed the way that we move in some way – to be able to look at their work and assess how the company has evolved throughout history is so special and a real testament to the remarkable artistry of everyone who has ever worked with the company.
“After Images and A Quiet Language are good counters to each other in a way. The exhibition looks at choreographies that have shaped the company and their impact on dance. A Quiet Language looks at how dance has shaped us and how it can shape us … it’s going to be a real vibe.”
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A Quiet Language runs from 26 February – 7 March at The Odeon Norwood. Tickets are sold out. Check here for updates.
After Images: 60 Years of Australian Dance Theatre runs in Adelaide Festival Centre’s Galleries from 8 Feb – 22 March. Both are presented in association with Adelaide Festival. Learn more here.