Australian Dance Theatre (ADT), known as Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre from 1993 to 1999, is a
contemporary dance
Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...
company based in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, established in 1965 by
Elizabeth Cameron Dalman
Elizabeth Cameron Dalman (born 1934) is an Australian choreographer, teacher, and performer. She founded Australian Dance Theatre and was its artistic director from 1965 to 1975. She is also the founding director of Mirramu Dance Company.
Earl ...
. The ADT was the first
modern dance
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...
company in Australia, and drew on the techniques of
Martha Graham
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.
Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She wa ...
for its inspiration.
The company has garnered many industry awards, was the first Australian company invited to the
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
, and is the only Australian company to be invited to perform at
Théâtre de la Ville
(meaning the City Theatre) is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement.
Inc ...
in Paris. The company has toured performances extensively throughout Australia as well as internationally.
the artistic director of the company is
Daniel Riley, who took over after
Garry Stewart
Garry Stewart (born 1962) is an Australian dancer and choreographer. He was the longest-serving artistic director of the Australian Dance Theatre, taking over from Meryl Tankard in 1999 and finishing his term at the end of 2021. He is renowned f ...
had spent 22 years at the helm.
History
The Australian Dance Theatre was founded by
Elizabeth Dalman (later Elizabeth Cameron Dalman ) in 1965.
Dalman sought to "open the horizons for provocative contemporary and cutting edge dance".
The ADT was the first modern dance company in Australia, and drew on the techniques of Martha Graham for its inspiration.
Eleo Pomare
Eleo Pomare (20 October 1937 – 8 August 2008) was a Colombian-American modern dance choreographer. Known for his politically-charged productions depicting the Black experience, his work had a major influence on contemporary dance, especially Bl ...
was an early collaborator and the songs of
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoir ...
featured strongly in their early works, such as "
This Train
"This Train", also known as "This Train Is Bound for Glory", is a traditional American gospel song first recorded in 1922. Although its origins are unknown, the song was relatively popular during the 1920s as a religious tune, and it became a gospe ...
".
Dalman remained
artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...
until 1975.
[ Several directors followed, including Leigh Warren, who took the reins from 1987 to 1993.][
Under ]Meryl Tankard
Meryl Tankard is an Australian dancer and choreographer who has a wide national and international reputation.
Early life and education
Tankard's father served in the Royal Australian Air Force and the family moved to various bases during her ea ...
as artistic director from 1993 to 1999, the company was known as the Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre. Tankard left after disputes with the Board. After an interim directorship under Bill Pengelly, Garry Stewart
Garry Stewart (born 1962) is an Australian dancer and choreographer. He was the longest-serving artistic director of the Australian Dance Theatre, taking over from Meryl Tankard in 1999 and finishing his term at the end of 2021. He is renowned f ...
was appointed in 1999.
In May 2021 ''Convergence'' was performed at the ADT's home base, the Odeon Theatre, Norwood.[ Supported by the ]Tanja Liedtke Foundation
The Tanja Liedtke Foundation (German: Tanja Liedtke Stiftung) is a German-based charity supporting modern and contemporary dance.
History
The foundation was established in July 2008 in honour of the dancer and choreographer, Tanja Liedtke who was ...
, this series of short performances brought together the work of three winners of the International Choreographic Competition Hannover
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
: Philippe Kratz (2018 winner, Germany); Oscar Buthelezi (2019 winner, South Africa); and Tu Hoang (2020 winner, Vietnam); of the newly formed South Australian First Nations Dance Collective
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
(who danced to the music of Electric Fields
Electric Fields are an Aboriginal Australian electronic music duo made up of vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding and keyboard player and producer Michael Ross. Electric Fields combine modern electric-soul music with Aboriginal culture and sing in Pi ...
); and of Barkandji
The Paakantyi, or Barkindji or Barkandji, are an Australian Aboriginal tribal group of the Darling River (known to them as the Baaka) basin in Far West New South Wales, Australia.
Name
The ethnonym Paakantyi means "River people", formed from ...
woman Adrianne Semmens, a member of the SAFNDC and associate artist of ADT for 2021. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, South Australia, being free of the virus at that time, was able to play to 100% capacity. The performance was well-reviewed.
Wiradjuri
The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, ...
man Daniel Riley, who spent 12 years with Bangarra Dance Theatre
Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company focused on contemporary dance. It was founded by African American dancer and choreographer Carole Y. Johnson, Gumbaynggirr man Rob Bryant, and South African-born ...
and then time as a lecturer in contemporary dance at the Victorian College of the Arts
The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...
, took over as artistic director at the end of 2021. Riley is the first Indigenous person to become an artistic director of a non-Indigenous dance company in Australia. This responsibility weighs heavily on him, but he was inspired by playwright Wesley Enoch
Wesley James Enoch (born 1969) is an Australian playwright and artistic director. He is especially known for ''The 7 Stages of Grieving'', co-written with Deborah Mailman. He was artistic director of the Queensland Theatre Company from mid-2 ...
, the first Indigenous artistic director of a major theatre company, at Queensland Theatre
Queensland Theatre, formerly the Queensland Theatre Company and Royal Queensland Theatre Company, is a professional theatre company based in Brisbane, Australia. It regularly performs in its own Bille Browne Theatre and the Queensland Performi ...
.[ Before his appointment he had performed and choreographed extensively in Australia and internationally.][ While at Bangarra, he was the youngest male in the company to choreograph a work, creating a work called ''Riley'', which paid tribute to the work of Aboriginal artist ]Michael Riley
Michael Riley (born February 4, 1962) is a Canadian actor. From 1998 to 2000, he portrayed Brett Parker in ''Power Play''. He has acted in over 40 films and television series, including '' This Is Wonderland'', for which he received a Gemini Awa ...
, to whom he discovered he was related, as second cousin
Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...
. He has also choreographed for QUT
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The unive ...
, Third Row Dance Company in the UK, Sydney Dance Company
Sydney Dance Company is a contemporary dance company in Australia. The company has performed on stages around the world, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Joyce Theater in New York, the Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, and the ...
,[ and ]Louisville Ballet
The Louisville Ballet is a ballet school and company based in Louisville, Kentucky and is the official state ballet of The Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is led by artistic and executive director Robert Curran, an Australian dancer and choreograp ...
.[ Riley met ADT founder Elizabeth Dalman when he was at school in ]Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, aged 13, although did not know about the ADT until they toured Canberra a few years later. He has since remained friends with Dalman and they talk often.
Riley believes in an evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach, and is dedicated to creating shows that "can only be made here n Kaurna country not making work that looks like it's been made by a European company".[
The new season and troupe, with four new dancers, were unveiled in March 2022.][ The first performance under Riley was ''Outside Within'', a triptych of works that explores Aboriginal and post-colonial Australia, with the first of the three, ''Immerse'', choreographed by Adrianne Semmens. This was followed by a ]short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
made in 2021 featuring Riley and his son, called ''Mulumna-Within''; and then Riley’s first dance work choreographed by him for the company, ''The Third'' (May 2022)
In September 2022 Riley presented his first major work, at the Dunstan Playhouse
Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre and the home of South Australia's performing arts, was built in the 1970s, designed by Hassell Architects. The Festival Theatre opened in June 1973 with the rest of the centr ...
in the Adelaide Festival Centre
Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre and the home of South Australia's performing arts, was built in the 1970s, designed by Hassell Architects. The Festival Theatre opened in June 1973 with the rest of the centr ...
, called ''SAVAGE''. The performance included nine dance students from Flinders University
Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...
/AC Arts
The Adelaide College of the Arts, also known as AC Arts and formerly known as Adelaide Centre for the Arts, is a campus of TAFE South Australia that specialises in performing arts education. It is located on Light Square, Adelaide, and is part ...
along with the ADT dancers.[
]
Governance and funding
The ADT is funded by the federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
through the Australia Council
The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...
, the Government of South Australia
The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...
through the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (1997–2018 via Arts South Australia
Arts South Australia (previously Arts SA) was responsible for managing the South Australian Government's funding for the arts and cultural heritage from about 1996 until late 2018, when it was progressively dismantled, a process complete by early ...
) and a number of corporate partners and sponsors, as well as private donors.
Artistic directors
The artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...
s have been:
*1965–1975: Elizabeth Cameron Dalman
*1977–1985: Jonathan Taylor (former dancer Ballet Rambert
Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...
, UK),
*1986–1987: Anthony Steel (Adelaide Festival
The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...
& Lenny Westerdijk (ADT dancer)
*1987–1993: Leigh Warren (creator and director of Leigh Warren & Dancers, 1993–2019, now Dance Hub SA
Dance Hub SA, formerly Leigh Warren & Dancers or Leigh Warren + Dancers (LWD) and then LWDance Hub, is a contemporary dance company based in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Formed in 1993 by Leigh Warren, the company toured i ...
)
*1993–1999: Meryl Tankard (left after disputes with the Board)
*1999: Bill Pengelly (interim)[
*1999–2021: ]Garry Stewart
Garry Stewart (born 1962) is an Australian dancer and choreographer. He was the longest-serving artistic director of the Australian Dance Theatre, taking over from Meryl Tankard in 1999 and finishing his term at the end of 2021. He is renowned f ...
[
*2022–: Daniel Riley]
Tours
The company has toured performances extensively throughout Australia, as well as Ireland, Korea, Canada, USA, UK, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco, Japan, Spain, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Norway and Colombia.
Accolades
ADT has garnered 28 industry awards since 2002, was the first Australian company invited to the Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
and is the only Australian company to be invited to perform at Théâtre de la Ville
(meaning the City Theatre) is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement.
Inc ...
in Paris.
International Centre for Choreography
The International Centre for Choreography (ICC) at the ADT, supported by the Tanja Liedtke Foundation
The Tanja Liedtke Foundation (German: Tanja Liedtke Stiftung) is a German-based charity supporting modern and contemporary dance.
History
The foundation was established in July 2008 in honour of the dancer and choreographer, Tanja Liedtke who was ...
, was founded around 2016. It fosters choreographic initiatives locally and internationally, including residencies and other opportunities at ADT for the winners of the International Choreographic Competition Hannover
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
(for which Garry Stewart has been on the judging panel).[ Its mission is "to facilitate open research and experimentation in a supportive and professional environment". Other initiatives of the ICC include dance workshops, discussion panels, collaborations, and screen dance projects.
]
Selected performances
Choreographed by Dalman:[
*''Hallucinations'' (1966)
*''This Train'' (1966)
*''Landscape'' (1967)
*''Sundown'' (1967)
*''Sun and Moon'' (1968)
*''Homage to Boticelli'' (1969)
*''Creation'' (1969),
*''Release of an Oath'' (1972)
Choreographed by Taylor:][
*''Wildstars''
*''Transfigured Night''
Choreographed by Tankard:][
*''Songs with Mara''
*''Kikimora''
*''Furioso'' (1993)
*''Aurora'' (1994)
*''Possessed'' (1995)
*''Rasa'' (1996), (in collaboration with Padma Menon)
*''Seulle'' (1997)
*''Inuk'' (1997).
*''1998'' (sub-titled ''A Sampler by Meryl Tankard'')
Choreographed by Pengelly:][
*''Split''
Choreographed by Stewart:]
*''Split'' (August 1999)
*''House Dance'' (New Year's Eve 1999), featuring six dancers abseil
Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...
ing down the outside of the Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
*''Birdbrain'' (2000)
*''The Age of Unbeauty'' (2002)[
*''Nothing'' (2004)][
*''Held'' (2004), a collaboration with U.S. dance photographer Lois Greenfield
*''Devolution''
*''G'' (2008)]
*''Be Your Self'' (2010)[
*''Worldhood'' (2011), with the Adelaide Centre for the Arts
*''Proximity'' (2012)][
*''Objekt'' (October 2016), with tanzmainz
*''The Beginning of Nature'' (March 2016), with the ]Zephyr Quartet
The Zephyr Quartet is a string quartet based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1999, they have been recognised with awards and have collaborated with international musicians.
History
Founded in 1999, Zephyr has received tuition from the ...
, performed at Womadelaide
WOMADelaide is an annual four-day festival of Music, Arts and Dance, which was first held in 1992 in Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia. One of many WOMAD festivals held around the world, it is a four-day event that presents a diverse select ...
Choreographed by Riley:
*''The Third'', the third piece in a trilogy called ''Outside Within'', and Riley's first for the company[
*''SAVAGE'' (September 2022)]
References
Further reading
*
*. ''Australia Dancing'' (Archived page)
External links
*
*
* "Daniel retraces his path to ADT and outlines his vision for the company."
{{authority control
Dance companies in Australia
Contemporary dance companies
Performing arts in Adelaide
Performing groups established in 1965
1965 establishments in Australia
Dance schools in Australia