The 2026 Adelaide Festival, running from 27 February to 15 March, brings together artists who work at the edge of form and feeling. Under Artistic Director Matthew Lutton OAM, this year’s program spans theatre, opera, music and visual art, with dance once again playing a central role in defining the festival’s tone and reach.
Opening the dance program is Australian Dance Theatre’s world premiere of Faraway (25 February–1 March, The Odeon, Norwood), choreographed by Jenni Large. Known for her bold and highly physical work, Large has created what she describes as a “freaky fairytale fantasia”, guiding audiences through a terrain that is both glittering and grotesque. The piece unfolds as a dark, sensual reverie populated by strange creatures and nostalgic illusions. It draws on the body’s capacity to both conceal and reveal, with ADT’s ensemble navigating the fine line between fantasy and menace.
GuoGuoHuiHui’s Re-shaping Identity (28 February–2 March, Space Theatre) introduces one of China’s most talked-about contemporary collaborations. Five dancers from Tibetan, Yao, Uyghur and Han backgrounds begin by performing their traditional dances before transforming these forms into contemporary expressions of liberation and individuality. The work captures the tension between cultural inheritance and reinvention, as each artist negotiates the shifting space between heritage and the modern world.
Stephanie Lake Company returns to the festival with The Chronicles (12–15 March, Dunstan Playhouse), a large-scale exploration of life’s cycles from birth to dissolution. Twelve dancers perform alongside baritone Oliver Mann and Young Adelaide Voices to an electro-acoustic score by Robin Fox. The choreography builds from small, embryonic gestures into surging ensemble passages before receding into stillness. Lake’s ability to balance muscular precision with emotional clarity gives the work its momentum and coherence, while the live music layers add a sense of ritual and scale.
Closing the dance program is Hofesh Shechter Company’s Theatre of Dreams (13–15 March, Festival Theatre). Premiered in Paris and recently seen at Sadler’s Wells and Brighton Festival, the work extends Shechter’s fascination with rhythm and collective energy. The dancers move through a sequence of dreamlike scenes accompanied by live musicians and Shechter’s own cinematic score. It is an intensely physical experience that oscillates between chaos and quiet revelation, exploring the interplay of fear, desire and the subconscious.
Beyond the dance program, the festival features Simon Stone’s The Cherry Orchard, the return of Isabelle Huppert in Mary Said What She Said, and major music events including El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered with Julia Bullock and Ensemble Pygmalion’s long-awaited Australian debut. Together they build a festival that positions Adelaide as a meeting place for artistic risk and cross-disciplinary conversation.
Adelaide Festival runs from 27 February to 15 March 2026. Full program at adelaidefestival.com.au.