Creating a new home for contemporary dance

How do you persuade your state government to give you $340,000 to transform an old picture theatre into a new performance hub?

Australian Dance Theatre’s The Beginning of Nature. Photo credit: Chris Herzfeld Camlight Productions.

A new centre for contemporary dance will be created in Adelaide as part of a major redevelopment of former cinema, the Odeon Theatre, in the inner city suburb of Norwood.

New tenants Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) will move into the Odeon later this year. The company will spend more than $400,000 updating the venue to create a flexible performance space with retractable seating, studio space for rehearsals and creative developments, offices, and a new foyer and bar.

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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 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts