World premieres by Dancenorth Australia and Larissa McGowan will join visiting companies TAO Dance Theater and Peeping Tom in Adelaide Festival’s 2027 dance program, announced on 27 October.
Running from 26 February to 14 March, the festival’s second program under artistic director Matthew Lutton spans 54 events. For dance audiences, the offerings range from Tao Ye’s precise ensemble choreography to Peeping Tom’s unsettling dance-theatre, with new Australian works exploring the cosmos and the hidden self.
Dancenorth’s Galaxia will receive its world premiere at the Space Theatre, with a season running from 24 February to 2 March, including previews ahead of the festival’s official opening. The Townsville-based company returns following its 2024 Adelaide Festival season of Wayfinder.
For Galaxia, New York artist Andrew Schneider has designed a canopy of interactive stars extending from the stage into the theatre. The production brings movement and immersive technology together in a shared encounter with an ever-shifting cosmos. Adelaide Festival is among the work’s commissioners.
Beijing-based TAO Dance Theater will present the Australian premiere of 13 & 14 at Her Majesty’s Theatre from 26–28 February. Led by choreographer Tao Ye, the company explores collective movement through two contrasting works: in 13, grey-cloaked dancers gather into a group that absorbs those who fall away; in 14, colourfully costumed performers move with exacting synchronicity.
Adelaide choreographer Larissa McGowan’s new duet ShadowSide will premiere at the Odeon Theatre, Norwood, from 11–14 March, including a preview. Performed by Ben Hancock and Connor MacDonald, the work draws on Carl Jung’s concept of the “shadow” to examine the selves we reveal, conceal and project onto others.
As the two dancers merge and separate, they embody both themselves and each other’s shadows. Produced by Insite Arts and co-commissioned by Adelaide Festival, the 55-minute work places the performers’ physical interplay at the centre of its exploration of identity.
Belgian company Peeping Tom brings DIPTYCH: The Missing Door and The Lost Room to the Dunstan Playhouse from 11–14 March in an Australian premiere exclusive to Adelaide.
Co-creators Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier combine two works in which couples inhabit the fractured worlds of a ship’s cabin and a hotel room. Shifting interiors and physically demanding choreography turn hidden fears into tangible threats, drawing dance-theatre into the territory of psychological horror.
Dance also threads through the wider festival. Country Arts SA’s Kumarangk: Sisterhood, written by Tracey Rigney and directed by Glenn Shea, combines theatre and contemporary dance in an outdoor world premiere at Yitpi Yartapuultiku from 3–7 March. The production connects the Ngarrindjeri women’s resistance to the Hindmarsh Island bridge with a reimagining of the Ngarrindjeri Seven Sisters creation story.
At Adelaide Writers’ Week, poet, novelist and dancer Tishani Doshi will present Egrets, While War, combining poetry, dance and film. The performance takes place in Adelaide Festival Centre’s Banquet Room on 2 March.
For dancers seeking opportunities beyond the auditorium, a program of masterclasses and workshops for professional artists and tertiary students, supported by the Helpmann Academy, will be announced in January.
Tickets are now on sale, with limited $40 tickets for audiences under 40 available across the four main dance productions. Full program and booking details are available at adelaidefestival.com.au.