ADT’s Tracker returns

Australian Dance Theatre artistic director Daniel Riley is set to join the cast on stage when his intensely personal family story Tracker comes back to South Australian this month.

A blend of contemporary dance, theatre, music and ceremony, Tracker tells the story of Riley’s great-great uncle, Alexander “Tracker” Riley, the first Indigenous police sergeant in New South Wales. It has previously been performed at this year’s Adelaide Festival (read our review here) and at the Sydney, Perth and Brisbane festivals, as well as Melbourne’s Rising Festival.

In announcing that Tracker will return to the Odeon Theatre in Norwood from October 25 to 27, before touring to Mount Gambier, Renmark and Whyalla, ADT said that Riley will perform in the work for the first time himself, alongside former Bangarra Dance Theatre dancers Rika Hamaguchi and Kaine Sultan-Babij.

Riley says Tracker has “expanded and evolved” over the more than 30 performances so far.

“To bring Uncle Alec’s story back to The Odeon is very special and exciting,” he says. “We had such an incredible amount of positive response and support from our successful Adelaide Festival season earlier this year, that when the opportunity came up to perform at home before we head out on the road to connect with the communities of Regional South Australia, we just had to do it.”

Details of the Adelaide and SA regional performances can be found here.

Fringe grants announced

A total of 164 grants valued at $890,000 have been allocated in the first round of 2024 Adelaide Fringe grants, with recipients including former Fringe poster design competition award winner Mali Isabel (pictured below).

Emerging artist Isabel, whose rainbow-coloured “magical landscape” graced the 2022 Fringe program and who presented her work at Gluttony during this year’s festival, has been awarded one of Fringe’s “Level-Up” grants to present a “new, interactive event of Aboriginal culture, art and music” in 2024.

Other recipients of Level-Up grants – which are capped at $10,000 and intended to support ambitious premiere events – were Thomas Fonua (AKA producer Kween Kong) and Major Sumner’s Tal-Kin-Jeri Dance Group. The bulk of the grants distributed through Adelaide Fringe’s philanthropic arm Arts Unlimited are “Up+Running” grants to help get projects off the ground, with these distributed to a broad range of artists and producers, as well as venues including Holden Street Theatres, Nexus, Rhino Room and the Migration Museum (see the full list of 2024 first-round recipients here).

Fringe says dedicated grants for First Nations Australians are part of a broader effort to increase the levels of participation and prominence of Indigenous creatives and producers, and of the grants being awarded this year, 8.1% of shows have cast and creatives who identify as First Nations.

The full 2024 Adelaide Fringe program will be launched in December.

Celebrating young voices

A picnic will be held at Carclew next weekend to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Young Adelaide Voices and support its mission of inspiring and educating young choral singers.

The choir school was established in 1988 as the Adelaide Girls Choir, with the name changed in 2004 in recognition of the fact that it was open to all singers aged from five to 35.

The picnic on Saturday, October 21, will be a public event showcasing the YAV’s history and will include performances by the choir school, plus a guest appearance by patron and singer Peter Coombe – and cake. All proceeds raised will go to the not-for-profit organsation.

“Everyone is invited to join YAV’s 35th anniversary picnic and discover the important work our choir school continues to achieve in developing not only talented choristers, but bright, passionate, and resilient young people,” says Young Adelaide Voices artistic director Christie Anderson.

“We are aiming to raise $35,000 for 35 years, to help us provide musical education and opportunities for young people for another 35 years and beyond.”

Tickets for the picnic are available here, and if you can’t make it, you can still support Young Adelaide Voices’ “35 for 35” fundraising campaign here.

Green Room is a regular column for InReview, providing quick news for people interested, or involved, in South Australian arts and culture.

Get in touch by emailing us at editorial@solsticemedia.com.au

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