Expressive Dance & Movement Therapy
Trauma-informed sessions run with an accredited dance movement therapist. Chairs stay in the circle — no one has to stand to take part.
Learn moreEst. 2009 · Keswick, Kaurna Country
Everyone herewas new once.
DanceMantra is a not-for-profit dance association on Everard Avenue. We run therapeutic movement, multicultural youth arts and Sunday open rehearsals for anyone in Adelaide's inner south-west — regardless of age, ability, income or whether you can find the beat.
Our roots
It started with eight people and a borrowed cassette player.
In 2009, Selene Green — a physiotherapy assistant who'd trained in Bharatanatyam as a girl in Chennai — asked the Keswick hall committee whether she could use the back room on Tuesday nights. Eight women came. Most had never danced in public. One brought her mother.
Seventeen years on we hold a lease on the same building, run eleven weekly sessions, and work alongside the Migrant Resource Centre, three high schools, two aged care providers and the local Neighbourhood Watch. The cassette player is retired but framed above the kettle.
We remain a small, member-run association. Our committee is elected each October at the AGM, our accounts are tabled publicly, and no member receives a share of income or property.
Read our full history and governanceWhat we run
Three pillars, one floor, no auditions.
Youth & Multicultural Arts Outreach
Bharatanatyam, dabke, hip hop and Kaurna-led yarning circles, run with three local high schools and the Migrant Resource Centre.
Learn more
Community Workshops & Open Rehearsals
Sunday afternoons, doors open, kettle on. Turn up in socks, watch from the side, or join the last twenty minutes. Entry is by donation.
Learn moreIn their words
The best measure we have is who keeps coming back.
“I came in after my hip replacement thinking I'd sit and watch. Twelve weeks later I was in the front row of the showcase, and my physio couldn't believe the range I'd got back.”
“My daughter arrived from Kabul with almost no English. She learned the word 'again' at DanceMantra because everybody kept shouting it. Now she teaches the little ones on Saturdays.”
“It's the only room in Adelaide where a Kaurna kid, a retired postie and a Greek grandmother end up in the same line dance and nobody thinks it's unusual.”
What's on
Coming up at Everard Avenue
Thu 13 Aug
6:30pm – 8:00pm
Winter Open Rehearsal
Bring a plate if you can. No experience needed.
Main Hall, 48 Everard Ave
Sat 22 Aug
10:00am – 12:30pm
Dabke & Debke Workshop with Nour Haddad
All ages. Free for Keswick and Ashford residents.
Main Hall
Sun 30 Aug
2:00pm – 5:00pm
Gentle Movement for Carers
Seated options throughout. Tea and a yarn after.
Studio Two
Fri 11 Sep
7:00pm
Spring Showcase — Our Mantra, Our Movement
Tickets by donation. Auslan interpreted.
Goodwood Institute
Term dates follow the South Australian public school calendar. Sessions run in the holidays unless we've said otherwise on the noticeboard.