Arts leaders unite to champion local choreographers in dance double bill

Award-winning South Australian choreographers Gabrielle Nankivell and Lewis Major will debut their captivating dance double bill, The Move, at Adelaide Festival Centre’s Space Theatre from 22-24 April.

The Move is a platform for new choreographic works curated and commissioned by Dance Hub SA, The Mill, Ausdance SA and proudly presented by Adelaide Festival Centre.

The Mill Director Katrina Lazaroff says:

South Australian independent dance deserves presentation in our state’s highest calibre venue, the Adelaide Festival Centre. The Move is designed to make this possible for freelance artists to shine a light on our local talent. I am delighted to be working with dance artist Gabrielle Nankivell and her collaborator Jo Stone, on this unique and intriguing dance theatre work. These artists draw from the full depth of their life experience and undertake considered social research, to make intelligent and truly moving work that audiences must see!

This collaborative project provides South Australian choreographers the opportunity to develop and present new works to audiences at South Australia’s leading arts venue.

The Move will feature two new works – Wonder Grit and Satori.

Dance Hub SA Artistic Director Amanda Phillips says:

I am thrilled that this vision has come together through integral collaboration and the partnership with Adelaide Festival Centre. The Move is one of the most exciting, relevant and significant platforms for freelance Choreographers and the future of Dance. The Move validates and supports creative careers, artistic expression and the development and presentation of new Australian work centred in Choreography as an art form. To this end, Lewis and Gabrielle’s works signal a new breed of Australian Dance.

Created by Gabrielle Nankivell in collaboration with Jo Stone, Wonder Grit sees contemporary dance collide with competitive cycling and explores the nature of loss, injury, and motivation. An award-winning choreographer and dancer, Gabrielle has been the recipient of several choreographic residencies across Europe and Asia. She honed her dance career in Europe and has gone on to work with notable dance companies including Wildebeest for Sydney Dance Company (2017 Helpmann Award nomination: Best Choreography in a Ballet, Dance or Physical Theatre Production), Australian Dance Theatre and Windmill Theatre amongst others.

In Satori, Lewis Major explores states of temporariness, imperfection and the absurdity of our current zeitgeist through an ensemble dance work featuring a cast of all-local dancers. Lewis is an award-winning choreographer who refined his skills over a decade spent overseas working with seminal contemporary choreographers including Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Russell Maliphant. He recently presented his world premiere and sell-out season of S/WORDS and Unfolding at Adelaide Festival 2021.

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO & Artistic Director Douglas Gautier AM says:

The Move is an inspiring and ambitious new dance work, and we greatly value opportunities like these to shine a light on local artistic talent. By collaborating with some of South Australia’s leading dance companies, we are continuing to find ways of supporting our arts sector as it bounces back from the various challenges it has faced over the past year.

The Move is on sale now – for tickets visit: www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/events/the-move/