BETROFFENHEIT Becomes Second Sold-Out Show of 2017 Adelaide Festival

Contemporary dance lovers have shown their support of the 2017 Adelaide Festival program, with Canadian dance production Betroffenheit selling out its season six weeks before the Festival's opening weekend.

The critically acclaimed dance/theatre production by Vancouver based Electric Company Theatre and Kidd Pivot is the second show of the 2017 program to sell out, after Barrie Kosky's Glyndebourne Festival Opera production Saul sold out in December.

Audiences are also embracing the rest of the Festival's dance program, with tickets selling fast to Israeli company L-E-V's two shows OCD Love and Killer Pig, Gala by renownEd French "anti-choreographer" Jérôme Bel, and the world premiere of Adelaide's own Restless Dance Theatre's Intimate Space, set in the Hilton Adelaide hotel.

Created by one of Canada's best-known actors and Electric Company Theatre co-founder and artistic director Jonathon Young, alongside internationally acclaimed Canadian choreographerCrystal Pite of Dance Company Kidd Pivot, Betroffenheit comes to Adelaide after dazzling audiences in the UK, Canada and USA.

Adelaide Festival Artistic Directors Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy said they were thrilled with the response to this remarkable work, and to the Festival's dance program as a whole.

"We are so delighted that Adelaide has embraced this remarkable work," Mr Armfield said. "Crystal Pite is a prodigious new talent on the international dance scene and the standing ovations and breath-taking critical response this work has received across the global is evidence of her technical virtuosity and her very human response to JoNathan Young's harrowing personal journey.

Ms Healy said: "A sell-out season is another reminder that this is not the Festival to sit on your hands and wait until March to buy tickets! The number of interstate visitors that are pouring in to Adelaide over March are snapping up tickets quickly, and we would hate for Adelaide to miss out. "

Adelaide Festival CEO Sandy Verschoor said audience enthusiasm for Betroffenheit was indicative of the quality of production on offer in Mr Armfield and Ms Healy's debut Adelaide Festival. "Two sell out shows with still six weeks to go is a great way to celebrate the first of our programs under the artistic direction of Rachel Healy and Neil Armfield," Ms Verschoor said.

Betroffenheit is on at the Dunstan Playhouse for two performances only in the opening weekend of the Festival, on March 3 and 4.

Another highlight of the dance program for 2017 is Israeli company L-E-V, formed by former Batsheva Dance Company principal dancer and choreographer Sharon Eyal and Tel Aviv rave party producer Gai Behar, along with several former Batsheva dancers.

Taking its name from the Hebrew word for "heart" (lev), L-E-V has dazzled audiences around the world since launching in 2013, praised by the New York Times as having "a defined style that takes most troupes years to develop", and winning critical acclaim from The Guardian for its dancers being "almost hypnotically attuned to each other".

The company will perform an Adelaide exclusive season of two technically staggering and spine-chillingly sexy works on the final weekend of the Festival: Killer Pig (March 18) and OCD Love (March 19). Performed to deep, pulsing grooves from techno pioneer Ori Lichtik and indie band The Knife, this new edge of contemporary dance is selling fast.

Also exclusive to the Adelaide Festival is the Australian premiere of Gala (March 15-18), by award-winning French "anti-choreographer" Jérôme Bel. Unique to every city in which it's performed, Gala features a company of 15 Adelaide locals of diverse abilities, genders, ages and talents, ranging from professional dancers to amateur enthusiasts and even a few who have never set foot on a stage before. Riotously funny, joyful and uplifting, Gala is a delightful and warm tribute to the real people of our city, and the human impulse to dance.

In another Adelaide Festival exclusive, award winning South Australian company Restless Dance Theatre will present the world premiere of Intimate Space (March 3-19), an immersive dance performance set in the Hilton Adelaide hotel.

Strictly limited to 10 people per show, this surprising and enchanting new work directed by Michelle Ryan takes audiences on a travelling dance adventure through the Hilton's sophisticated bar, lush rooms and back of house areas, with a local company of dancers who embrace and celebrate diversity and disability.

Set to an evocative soundscape by Jason Sweeney, Intimate Space will challenge and inspire as it invites the audience to act not just as a voyeur, but key players integral to the performance in a unique dance experience.

With a diverse range of theatre, music, dance and visual art for every taste and interest, tickets to all Adelaide Festival shows are available now through BASS on 131 246 or via www.adelaidefestival.com.au.

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