A Quiet Language
An electric happening that examines dance as a site of ceremony, protest, celebration, joy and resistance.
In Australian Dance Theatre’s 60th year, Artistic Director Daniel Riley creates a continuum between this iconic company’s game-changing beginnings and its bold collective future with A Quiet Language.
Against a backdrop of social upheaval and protest, Elizabeth Cameron Dalman OAM founded Australian Dance Theatre to expand the horizons of contemporary dance. Now, the company fearlessly examines its legacy and the history of Australian dance as it is held in the body and written across the country upon which we tread.
A Quiet Language stretches Australian Dance Theatre’s artistry across time, space, culture and place, transmuting the rebellious energy of the company’s early days into a thrilling new era.
Director/Concept
Daniel Riley
Choreography
Daniel Riley, Brianna Kell and ADT Company Artists
Co-Director/Artistic Associate
Brianna Kell
Creative Collaborator
Elizabeth Cameron Dalman AM CdOAL
Production Design
Matthew Adey
Lighting Associate
Mark Oakley
Composer and Musician
Adam Page
Costume Design
Ailsa Patterson
Dramaturg
Alexis West
Participant Observer
Dr Cheryl Stock AM
Researcher
Dr Maggie Tonkin
World Premiere
Adelaide Festival
The Odeon, Kaurna Country
26 February - 7 March
“This work is one of the finest examples I have seen in recent years where dance successfully melds with other artforms so that the whole is elevated to a truly theatrical event …”
“A Quiet Language is fresh, full-bodied, and vital — a product of Riley’s philosophy of joy as resistance. There is no more fitting way for ADT to honour its groundbreaking legacy than with a work that pushes the company in new and exciting directions.”
“A Quiet Language sends joyful shafts of light into the darkness.”
“A complex, compelling production, by turns anguished and joyous, angry and elegiac, honouring six decades of radical dance history.”