Adelaide Fringe fever is spreading across TAFE SA as creative arts students and graduates prepare to showcase their talents alongside independent artists from around the world.

TAFE SA is also opening up the Adelaide College of the Arts (AC Arts) as a Fringe venue, hosting 14 different shows by emerging talents and world-renowned performers and is a partner in this year’s Adelaide Fringe Awards, supporting the Adelaide Fringe Best Dance Award and the Adelaide Fringe Best Theatre and Physical Theatre Award.

For students and graduates, the annual arts festival provides opportunities to create and perform, network and observe the work of others.

TAFE SA’s Dance Program has had a long association with Adelaide Fringe through Rip, Drag & Ruminate, an annual production by third-year students who display their talents both as choreographers and performers.

Rip, Drag & Ruminate presents original works, created and performed by students who are in their final year of the Bachelor of Creative Arts – Dance, a dual award offered by TAFE SA and Flinders University.

The production is a major creative collaboration which sees students work in pairs, based on mutual interests or a shared concept, to choreograph dance works which are performed by their peers.

This year’s Rip, Drag & Ruminate, to be held on March 6-7, will feature performers Jordan Kotowski, Luis Medrow, Hayley Leffers, Mimi Yoshii, Noah Morey, Alex Selivanova, Sandy Williams, Charli McKenzie, Mia Hocking, Emily Priest, Lucinda Miller and Ella Dixon.

Dance graduate Stella Page participated in Rip, Drag & Ruminate in 2023 and has since built on that experience, developing her career as an independent artist with performances, development projects and short films.

Stella, pictured below, is part of the cast of In Motion, a new work exploring grief and loss, which was written by Jasmine Warland and is being produced by Jasmine and Nicole Walker for this year’s Fringe.

Presented by Virago Circus, In Motion combines circus, dance and theatre in a show that explores our emotional responses to some of life’s most challenging moments.

“There is a central character and then each of the other performers is a type of grief so, for example, the grief of past is about regrets and the grief of person is about expectations,” Stella says.

In Motion follows the central character, Esther, as she encounters each type of grief and responds with a range of emotions. 

There are some difficulties and struggles for Esther but It’s a really cool journey,” says Stella, who is the ‘grief of self’.

“I like how each artist has a different role of grief to play and as a performer, the combination of circus, dance and theatre is a lot of fun.”

As an independent artist, Stella says she has found the lack of a fixed schedule challenging but is developing strategies that keep her motivated and involved in projects.

“Performing at last year’s Cabaret Fringe was a highlight for me and made me realise that contemporary dance can merge with other styles and create really interesting and stylised movement,” she says.

TAFE SA/Flinders University graduate and Alchemy Dance Collective founder, Kate Burgess, was recognised as the Best Emerging Artist of the 2024 Adelaide Fringe for her work That's Amore.

This year, Kate is returning with a solo show titled Full Time Ex-Lover which combines contemporary dance and a touch of burlesque, and she is also co-producing Send in the CLOWNS! by Owen Gray.

In Motion, starring Nicole Walker, Stephanie Ianella, Rachael Howes, Stella May, Sam Matthewman and Jasmine Warland is at Gluttony from February 21-26.

Full Time Ex-Lover is at The Back Room at trap. cocktail bar from March 3 – 7.

Rip, Drag & Ruminate will be in The Stables, AC Arts, from March 6-7.

For more information about Fringe shows at AC Arts, please visit the Adelaide Fringe website.