Anything Is Valid Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company based in Perth. The company was founded in 2008 by Serena Chalker[1] and Quindell Orton,[2] graduates of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts[3] and is a company that works in site-specific and immersive performance.
Anything is Valid Dance Theatre has premiered in Europe at Springhouse 2014[4] in Dresden (DE), where they performed The Dual Existence of Time, and in 2015 AIVDT premiered their one-on-one immersive mobile performance When We First Met at the 24th Process – Space Art Festival[5] (BG). This work has since been re-mounted at Water Tower Art Fest[6] (BG), Noted Festival[7] (AU), YouAreHere Festival[8] (AU), and Festival of Alternative Theatrical Expression (HR).[9] Also in 2015, Amongst the Many premiered at In Short In-Situ,[10] an interactive work guiding 20 audience members through via headsets at Fremantle Arts Centre. In 2012 AIVDT created in Life in Miniature, winner of Best Dance at the Adelaide Fringe,[11] and nominated for numerous awards including a WA Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. The work is a critically acclaimed performance[12] inside a caravan for an intimate audience, premiering at the 2012 Perth Fringe Festival, with sell-out seasons at the MoveMe Festival[13] and 2013 Adelaide Fringe. In 2010 AIVDT premiered UNEXPECTED-microclimates, a promenade performance in the Perth laneways, which also debuted to a sell-out crowd. AIVDT are currently developing Dust on the Shortbread,[14] created on renowned Australian senior performers Dr Elizabeth Cameron Dalman OAM (founder of Australian Dance Theatre) and George Shevtsov. Created in a suburban house, this work explores the lives of an older couple; the tension between maintaining independence and vitality and the effects of dementia on intimate relationships.