Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) will celebrate the new generation of curatorial talent with a festival-like atmosphere at their home, The Odeon, Norwood, for the exclusive season of Cultivate: One, this November.
Cultivate: One sees ADT premiere three new Australian works from company Artists Brianna Kell, Sebastian Geilings and Zachary Lopez, providing a platform for established and emerging artists to develop and present their work for audiences with the program.
“These are three works, three ideas and three physicalities that haven’t been seen in Adelaide before; that’s really exciting for audiences because they’re getting to see another side of Brianna, Sebastian and Zachary as Artists,” said ADT Artistic Director Daniel Riley.
For the Friday and Saturday performances (17 & 18, 24 & 25 November), The Odeon will be a hub of activity with DJs, toasties by RODEO and pop-up bar from Miss Zilm, while Wulli Wulli artist and Koa artist Shane Cook will paint a giant mural in the theatre’s foyer.
The works by ADT artists will headline this event with music by duck! radio DJs, with drinks from Little Bang, Pundi Bitters and The Usual Suspects group on these dates to give the final Adelaide season of 2023 a celebratory feel.
“This is the first time we’ve opened up The Odeon for a celebration of the company in this way,” says Riley. “The Odeon is our home, and we want to open our home for this special season, the final Adelaide season of 2023, where we get to see our talented Artists show their incredible talent.”
Artist Brianna Kell will present her work NOW / AGAIN, which delves into the intricate relationship between time and human connection, both for the individual and collective. Multiplying perspectives, this work seeks to agitate the relationship of connection through time.
“This is something I’ve been exploring for a long time,” says Kell. “I’m working with the whole company, which is really special, on how time interferes with connection and using sensitive durational elements, so the audience has time to sit with the work; it asks for patience and focus.”
For Down Trodden Punk, Zachary Lopez uses abstractionism and dance theatre to spotlight language as a tool of oppression, exploring the stark parallels between the White Australian Policy and the 16th century clergy in the Philippines.
Drawing from discriminatory policies from both differing colonial periods, Lopez and the collaborative artists attempt to enhance, mythologise and reform these parallels. A kaleidoscopic interpretation of control and complicity, Down Trodden Punk engages with linguistics whilst attempting to physicalise potential futures.
While Sebastian Geilings’ How Much Of You Is Repetition?, his first major work, is a surreal dance piece that delves into the quirky and nonsensical facets of ‘dysregulation’. A theatrical loop, the performers navigate various emotional embodiments, offering an exploration of the human psyche’s response to trauma. An evocative journey through the absurdity of healing
Cultivate: One
The Odeon, 57a Queen Street, Norwood
Season: 17 – 25 November 2023
Information and Bookings: www.adt.org.au
Image: Brianna Kell, Sebastian Geilings, Daniel Riley and Zachary Lopez – photo by Morgan Sette