Turning 60 in style: Australian Dance Theatre leaps from the stage to the gallery wall

AD Daniel Riley describes the birth of ADT and an accompanying exhibition documenting the company’s six decades of dance-making.
Sebastian Geilings, Yilin Kong and Patrick O'Luanaigh from ADT's 'A Quiet Language'.

“It’s extraordinary that a dance company – a contemporary dance company – has reached the age of 60 in this country,” says Daniel Riley, a Wiradjuri man and Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre (ADT).

“I think it’s an extraordinary testament to the form – and that form being the oldest storytelling tool that we have. There is so much to say with the body, and hence the title of A Quiet Language [ADT’s 60th anniversary production]; we can say so much without actually saying anything at all.”

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in early 2020. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association in 2021, and a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Photo: Fiona Hamilton. Follow Richard on Bluesky @richardthewatts.bsky.social and Instagram @richard.l.watts