Australian Dance Theatre artistic director Garry Stewart to step down after 22 years

Australian Dance Theatre artistic director Garry Stewart will step down at the end of 2021, after 22 years in the role – and an international search is on to find his replacement.

Australian Dance Theatre artistic director Garry Stewart will step down after 22 years in the role at the end of 2021.

Australian Dance Theatre artistic director Garry Stewart will step down at the end of 2021 after 22 years in the role to take up a new position with Flinders University and pursue other projects.

Mr Stewart has held the job as artistic director and principal choreographer of the internationally acclaimed Adelaide contemporary dance company for three times as long as any of his predecessors.

He said that the company’s future was both strong and secure, which made it the right time for him to pursue new creative projects both in Australia and abroad.

“I have been blessed to have worked with so many phenomenal dancers, gifted artists and a vast range of thinkers and professionals from many varied fields,” Mr Stewart said.

“Without doubt, it has certainly been an epic journey of discovery and creativity and so I feel the time is right to move on to the next phase of life’s adventures.”

Australian Dance Theatre will perform artistic director Garry Stewart’s new work Supernature as part of the Adelaide Festival in March. Picture: Morgan Sette

The ADT board, Mr Stewart and company executive director Nick Hays have begun an international recruitment process with the aim to appoint a new artistic director by mid-year.

Mr Stewart will continue to work with Flinders University as the director of Assemblage, its new creative arts research centre, and take on commissioned projects here and overseas.

“My first love remains making art and collaborating with other artists – and this will continue,” he said.

“I wish the board and management of ADT well in their search for a new artistic director and I look forward to seeing this singular and exceptional company thrive and flourish into a new era.”

ADT will present a new work by Stewart, called Supernature, as part of the Adelaide Festival at Her Majesty’s Theatre from March 12-14.

ADT chairman David Stobbe said Stewart was world renowned for his “creativity, compelling movement vocabulary and ambitious artistic collaboration”.

“Through his outstanding productions he has put Australian contemporary dance on the world stage, touring to some of the most prestigious venues from Paris, London, Luxembourg and New York,” Mr Stobbe said

“Australian Dance Theatre’s reputation has been enhanced tremendously through Garry’s work and we are indebted to his service.”

ADT was founded in Adelaide in 1965 by Elizabeth Cameron Dalman and was the first modern dance company in Australia.

With COVID-19 preventing international tours, ADT will stage its biggest Adelaide season in 25 years, with Supernature to be followed by Objekt in August and another world premiere, The Maelstrom, in November.

The company will also present Convergence, a season of new short dance works from local and international choreographers, in April-May.