In a rare opportunity, dance students at the Adelaide College of the Arts (AC Arts) are working with Australian Dance Theatre’s (ADT) Artistic Director Daniel Riley to reimagine and perform one of his creative works in a special limited season.
The third-year students, who are completing the Bachelor of Creative Arts – Dance through TAFE SA and Flinders University, will present The Third, the first work that Daniel made when he joined ADT in 2022.
In his first foray into making a work with students at AC Arts, Daniel says he’s excited by the opportunity to empower and inspire the next generation of dancers, to share knowledge and “to give them soft steps into the industry and connections”.
“For me to be here in this way and working closely with the staff and students at AC Arts is a real joy and privilege because I get to walk into a room and I see them hungry to learn and wanting to learn current ADT repertoire,” he says.
The artistic director is keen to foster a strong connection between AC Arts and ADT and hopes projects like The Third will encourage future graduates to aspire to dance with his company.
The Third explores the body as an archival tool, where memories are held collectively in a shimmering unravelling of time, space, and culture.
Deeply connected to place, The Third is a deeply felt and beautifully realised exploration of how people of all cultures can co-exist on contested land, standing united as they work to preserve histories and speak intergenerationally.
The dance students are working with Daniel to reinterpret the work, drawing on his knowledge and original vision, as well as that of ADT’s Artistic Associate Brianna Kell.
They have also been fortunate to gain “performative insights” from ADT dancers Zoe Wozniak and Zachary Lopez who were in the original production of The Third.
Daniel hopes the process instils a new level of confidence in the emerging artists and they gain a broader understanding of why and how work is created.
“I hope they get to stretch their body and physicality in a way they haven’t been able to before, and that they enjoy performing ADT repertoire because it’s not very often you get to perform company repertoire unless you’re in the company,” he says.
Dance student Sandy Marion Williams says it’s a unique and special experience having Artistic Director Daniel Riley and the ADT dancers in the studio “personally working with us on a piece they created”.
“They are all so generous in sharing their creative and technical knowledge with us as well as their advice and stories - and learning the movement and intention behind it firsthand I think will bring a lot to our performance,” she says.
The Third will be performed in the Main Theatre at AC Arts from Wednesday to Friday, June 18 to 20.