The woman who inspired an artistic rebellion and helped drive social and political change is playing a key role in one of the Adelaide Festival's key shows this year. Elizabeth Dalman founded the Australian Dance Theatre in the 1960s and is now back helping drive its 60th anniversary production.
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00:00Elizabeth Dahlman likes to lead from the front.
00:11The dance is part of who I am.
00:14She founded the Australian Dance Theatre in 1965.
00:19Now she's back, helping put together its Adelaide Festival show, A Quiet Language.
00:25It's joyous, it's massive, it's fun.
00:29With a lot of, kind of a homage to movement, Australian movement from the past till now.
00:37She returned from the Netherlands in the 1960s and set up ADT, a company based on modern
00:44dance.
00:45It caused ripples of angst from lovers of classical ballet.
00:48The reviewers, we got, you know, this dance is ugly, or they've got bare feet, this is
00:58shocking, you know, or they're rolling on the floor, oh dear, dear, you know.
01:06Dahlman wasn't just provoking the dance world, but at the forefront of social and political
01:10change, including protesting against the Vietnam War.
01:15In that time we were breaking lots of, lots of rules you might say, but for the better.
01:27She still carries an aura at 90.
01:31She has an amazing presence about her.
01:33She is a storyteller, she is like a creative goddess.
01:38She comes into the room and you can't help but lean forward and listen.
01:45It's a 60th anniversary show that will draw heavily on history and ADT's place in it.
01:51I think it's very important for dance, and particularly contemporary dance, to understand
01:59what went before, who were the pioneers, why did they do it and how did they do it.
02:06The show premieres in late February.