Moving Into Nature: Restless Dance Theatre at Nature Festival 2026
This October, Restless Dance Theatre is taking dance out of the studio and into the Adelaide Park Lands as part of Nature Festival 2026.
We’re excited to offer two free workshops that invite participants to move, explore and connect with the natural environment through inclusive contemporary dance.
Led by Artistic Director Michelle Ryan and artist Larissa McGowan, the workshops will explore the relationship between our bodies, the places we move through and the natural world around us. Participants will be encouraged to slow down, notice their surroundings and discover new ways of moving and responding to the landscape.
Rather than simply observing nature, these workshops invite us to experience it through our bodies.
We might respond to the texture of the ground beneath our feet, the rhythm of the wind, the sounds around us, the shapes and patterns we find in the landscape, or simply the feeling of being present in a particular place. There’s no right or wrong way to move, and no previous dance experience is needed.
Moving together, in different ways
The first workshop will be led by Michelle and Larissa alongside Restless Company Dancers, bringing our professional dancers into the experience and creating opportunities for participants to explore movement together.
The second workshop will be led by Michelle and Larissa with Restless Emerging Artists, offering another opportunity to experience our inclusive approach to dance while connecting with nature and place.
At Restless, we believe dance can be experienced by every body. Our workshops are designed to be adaptable to different ways of moving and participating, with options to walk, stand, sit or stay in one place. Participants can engage at their own pace, with no expectation of physical ability or previous dance experience.
From the studio to the park
Both workshops will begin at Restless Dance Theatre, where participants will meet 15 minutes before the workshop start time.
From there, we’ll walk together to the park, creating a shared journey from the studio into the landscape.
Our workshops will take place in Peppermint Park / Wita Wirra and the Osmond Gardens, giving us the opportunity to explore the different textures, sounds, spaces and stories of the Adelaide Park Lands.
This movement between studio and landscape is an important part of the experience. It allows us to consider how our bodies respond when the walls, mirrors and familiar spaces of a dance studio are replaced by trees, paths, grass, sky and the changing sounds of the outdoors.
Come and connect
As part of Nature Festival 2026, these workshops are free and open to everyone. The Nature Festival celebrates the ways that art, culture and nature can come together to deepen our relationship with the places around us. This year’s festival theme, SEED, asks us to consider the small beginnings that can shape our future, including the seeds we plant in our connection with nature and community.
For Restless, these workshops are an opportunity to plant a small seed of curiosity: to move differently, notice more closely and experience the natural environment through the body.
Come ready to move, explore and get curious about the world around you.
Meet at Restless Dance Theatre 15 minutes before the workshop. From there, we’ll walk together to the park.