Touring exceptional independent dance.
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5 - 14 November
The Odeon
Norwood, Kaurna Country
$54 - $63
The inaugural ORBIT program will feature Agitato by Jo Lloyd, Charcoal by Keia McGrady, [gameboy] by Amy Zhang and Future History by Gabrielle Nankivell.
Running the gamut from a poignant meditation on Country, an exploration of ingenuity in the face of ecological collapse, a choreographic reckoning with a virtuosic piece of classical music from 1823 and a videogame inspired work about our digital lives, ORBIT offers audiences the chance to experience works from artists at the vanguard of contemporary Australian performance.
ORBIT runs in Adelaide across two weeks from 5 - 14 November.
Week One runs from 5 - 7 November and features Agitato by Jo Lloyd, Charcoal by Keia McGrady and a special presentation of Fish Gods by ADT's very own Brianna Kell.
Week Two runs from 12 - 14 November and features [gameboy] by Amy Zhang and Future History by Gabrielle Nankivell.
Book Now5 - 14 November
The Odeon
Norwood, Kaurna Country
$54 - $63
Book Now29 – 31 October & 19 – 21 November
Dancehouse
Carlton, Wurundjeri Country
Learn More5 - 14 November
Sydney Dance Company
Sydney, Gadigal
Learn More19 - 20 November
Bunjil Place
Narre Warren, Boon Wurrung
Learn More28 November
Burrinja Cultural Centre
Upwey, Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung
Tickets on sale soonExplore the 2026 ORBIT program
Week One: Agitato by Jo Lloyd
Agitato is an encounter with Fanny Mendelssohn’s largely unknown composition ‘Allegro molto agitato in D Minor’ (1823), a musical jewel obscured by the politics and convention of her time.
Centuries later, lauded choreographer Jo Lloyd reckons with this legacy, creating a swirling and spiky choreographic interaction with each of Mendelssohn’s sprawling and irate notes.
Form is assembled and disassembled in a single breath, as Lloyd and her collaborators play with sustained hesitation and restraint set within a chaotic undercurrent.
Collapsing the boundaries between order and disorder, Agitato is a palimpsest of music seen through a contemporaneous mirror, an understanding between women through time, made visible and visceral on stage.
Credits:
Choreographer: Jo Lloyd
Dancers: Rebecca Jensen, Jo Lloyd, Louie Wisby, Thomas Woodman
Composer: Duane Morrison
Costume Designer: Andrew Treloar
Lighting Designer: Shiv Geaney
Dramaturg: Anny Mokotow
Dancers in Original Production: Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Lee Serle
Producer of Original Production: Michaela Coventry - Sage Arts
Agitato is showing from 5 - 7 November as part of our ORBIT Week 1 Program.
Book TicketsWeek One: Charcoal by Keia McGrady
Two dancers mark the stage with charcoal. As they gently move through Country, they inscribe a living conversation between spirit and landscape that spans generations.
Inspired by the regenerative power of cultural burning, Charcoal sees emerging choreographer Keia McGrady creates a visceral meditation on Country, lineage and the cycles of rebirth that are held in the land upon which we all walk.
The physical and invisible textures of the landscape manifest in a work steeped in ancestral knowledge drawn from deep collaboration with family. Charcoal traces a dialogue between spirit, memory and land in a work where movement becomes sacred offering and the body transforms into canvas.
Credits:
Lead Artist & Performer: Keia McGrady (Githabul, Migunberri and Gomeroi)
Performer: Amelia Jean O’Leary (Gamilaroi and Wadawurrung Yinarr)
Sound Composer: Joshua Santospirito & Waveney Yasso (Yuwi Burra & South Sea Island)
Sound Engineer: Joshua Santospirito
Lighting Designer & AV: Jason James
Original Costume Designer: Noah Johnson
Charcoal is showing from 5 - 7 November as part of our ORBIT Week 1 Program.
Book NowWeek Two: [gameboy] by Amy Zhang
Two avatars are dropped into a series of escalating challenges. As they complete each level, they’re asked to consider how far they’ll go to ‘win’.
Choreographer Amy Zhang brings her signature fusion of street styles and contemporary dance to explore the collision between the real and the virtual in a work that is as irreverently fun as it is physically virtuosic.
Taking inspiration from The Sims, Japanese game shows, and the strangest corners of the internet, [ gameboy ] is a raucously renegade work that steps inside the screen and slyly looks back.
If life is a game, who’s holding the controller?
Credits:
Director & Choreographer: Amy Zhang
Collaborators & Performers: William ‘Billy’ Keohavong and Ko Yamada
Sound Designer: Jackson Gracia
Contributing Composer: Maxwell ‘Thv Flood’ Douglas
Lighting Design: Theodore Carrol
[ gameboy ] is showing from 12 - 14 November as part of our ORBIT Week 2 Program.
Book NowWeek Two: Future History by Gabrielle Nankivell
Future History is a new ritual for a world in a constant state of flux.
Nankivell and her collaborators locate the body within cycles of global uncertainty, extinction, conflict, epidemic and catastrophic climate events to create a dance that thrives on the edge of oblivion.
Illuminating the vulnerability and resilience implicit on life on Earth, Nankivell uses every facet of her physicality to embody everything from the jittering of microscopic organisms to seismic ecological shifts.
Future History connects the personal and universal in a thrilling and urgent exploration of what it means to live here now, then and in the future.
Credits:
Lead Artist: Gabrielle Nankivell
Creative Collaborators: Luke Smiles, Martin del Amo, Kristina Chan, Joshua Thomson, Rasmus Ölme & Vânia Vaneau
Composer: Luke Smiles
Dramaturg: Martin del Amo
Costume Concept & Realisation: Harriet Oxley
Set and Lighting Realisation: Meg Wilson
Future History is showing from 12 - 14 November as part of our ORBIT Week 2 Program.
Book NowORBIT is a new touring program designed to take independent dance to the next level. Supported by Creative Australia and led by Australian Dance Theatre (SA), Dancehouse (VIC) and Sydney Dance Company (NSW), ORBIT will see exceptional independent choreographic works slingshot to multiple cities on a fully supported tour.
Independent artists are the engine of our creative sector, pushing contemporary dance forward through experimentation, creative risk taking and passion for their craft.
As the costs of developing and presenting work rise, exceptional independent works often rarely get a second season, or the opportunity to tour. Audiences miss out on experiencing awesome dance, and artists don't have the opportunity to build sustainable practice. ORBIT is designed to fill this gap.
ORBIT leverages the infrastructure and expertise of ADT, Dancehouse and Sydney Dance Company to not only enable artists to tour, but bring incredible independent dance to audiences across the country.
ORBIT is a chance for independent choreographers to reach new heights and for audiences to be right there with them.
How does ticketing work for ORBIT?
ORBIT presents two programs of work over two weekends.
Week One runs from 5 - 7 November and features Agitato by Jo Lloyd alongside Charcoal by Keia McGrady and a special presentation of Fish Gods by ADT's very own Brianna Kell.
Week Two runs from 12 - 14 November and features [gameboy] by Amy Zhang and Future History by Gabrielle Nankivell.
You can purchase a ticket Week 1 or Week 2 (or both!).
Can I purchase tickets to just one of the works presented in ORBIT?
We are unable to ticket each work presented in ORBIT individually.
A ticket to any session of ORBIT admits you to a whole night of dance. This means that if you purchase a ticket to our Week 1 Program, you will gain entry into showings of Agitato by Jo Lloyd, Charcoal by Keia McGrady and Fish Gods by Brianna Kell in your selected session.
If your purchase a ticket to our Week 2 Program, you will gain entry into showings of [gameboy] by Amy Zhang and Future History by Gabrielle Nankivell in your selected session.
We encourage you to lock in and enjoy the ride.
Can I purchase tickets to both ORBIT weekends in the same transaction?
Unfortunately, we are unable to process purchases across both weekends in the same transaction. In order to alleviate inconvenience, we're absorbing ticketing/transaction fees for all ORBIT ticket purchases.
ORBIT has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body and delivered in partnership by Australian Dance Theatre, Dancehouse and Sydney Dance Company.
