Australian Dance Theatre is one of the most influential dance companies
in Australia and has been producing consistently good repertoire
in dance and dance theatre since it was formed in Adelaide in 1965.
Under current Artistic Director, Garry Stewart (who joined in
2000), the company is once again taking a radically distinctive
trajectory. ADT dancers train in a number of specific physical
disciplines. As well as contemporary dance techniques and classical
ballet, they are also coached intensively in breakdance, martial
arts, gymnastics, capoeira and yoga. The result is a fusion of
forms, which constitutes a unique choreographic palette, for which
there is no equivalent in the world. Garry’s work is characterised
by his ‘no-compromise’ attitude. It’s fast,
aggressive, technically demanding, fraught with risk and charged
with an urgency that is riveting to watch. He ties the movement
together with soundscapes, lush video effects and lighting to
create extraordinary visual staged effects.
ADT has developed new works by Garry, including the much acclaimed
Housedance performed on the sails of the Sydney Opera House for
International Millennium Broadcast, which was telecast across
the globe to an estimated audience of two billion people; its
‘cygneture’ work Birdbrain; the multi award winning
work The Age of Unbeauty. It recently created a new production
HELD – a collaboration with New York photographer Lois Greenfield
that has completed a sell out run at the Sydney Opera House and
won three Helpmann awards and three Australian Dance Awards.
The company also tours extensively. ADT has performed local seasons
at the Sydney Opera House, the Melbourne International Festival,
Brisbane, Canberra and internationally at the Galway Arts Festival
(Ireland), the Seoul Arts Festival (Korea), the Singapore Arts
Festival, the National Centre for the Arts (Ottawa), Harbourfront
Theatre (Toronto), Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), the Joyce Theater
(New York) and the Holland Dance Festival. In May 2003, ADT’s
tour of Birdbrain to Snape Maltings and London was heralded by
the world's best dance critics as '...one of the most hazardous
explosions of movement seen in London in years' and '...a slick
and stylish masterpiece'.
In 2004/05 the company will tour extensively throughout Europe,
the UK and the US, taking in 45 venues with 68 performances.
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