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Adelaide Festival Invites You To Climb Aboard 'The Riverbank Palais'

A floating, two-storey hub on the Torrens will form the heart of the party.
The new venue will have bands and DJs on regular rotation and an open-air bar.
Robert Lang Photography
The new venue will have bands and DJs on regular rotation and an open-air bar.

It's all happening in the small, but sparkly city of Adelaide.

Not only was it named in the top five global travel destinations for 2017 but this week it also unveiled the program for the annual Adelaide Festival, revealing a sweet slice of what's to come during the festive month of March.

With landmark productions like Sydney Theatre Company's "The Secret River" and George Frideric Handel's operatic masterpiece "Saul", it will bring together some of the world's finest artists to mark its 32nd year in operation.

Neil Armfield's landmark Sydney Theatre Company production "The Secret River" will premiere in an epic new open-air performance staged in the Anstey Hill Quarry.
Heidrun-Löhr
Neil Armfield's landmark Sydney Theatre Company production "The Secret River" will premiere in an epic new open-air performance staged in the Anstey Hill Quarry.

For the first time, artistic directors Neil Armfield AO and Rachel Healy have joined forces to curate the 17-day program, building on the festival's rich cultural legacy while adding to the festive fun with quirky extras, like a two-storey floating entertainment hub on the River Torrens.

"Adelaide has always been the perfect festival city -- and this year we'll bring back the Riverbank Palais -- which will float on the Torrens for the duration of the festival and be a beacon for everyone," Healy said during the festival program launch.

The new venue is modelled on an ornate floating ballroom known as the Floating Palais de Danse -- the pinnacle of Adelaide's nightlife throughout the 1920s -- until it mysteriously sank at the height of the decade.

The floating hub will be modelled on the Palais de Danse which was the pinnacle of Adelaide's nightlife in the 1920s.
Adelaide Festival
The floating hub will be modelled on the Palais de Danse which was the pinnacle of Adelaide's nightlife in the 1920s.

Other notable acts include the exclusive Australian premiere of "Peter and the Wolf" starring Miriam Margolyes, Canadian actor Jonathon Young's poignant "Betroffenheit" and "L-E-V", a contemporary dance performance paired with techno music.

If you're more of "doer" than a "watcher", Jérôme Bel's "Gala" which began in Paris, invites Adelaide locals to take part in an inclusive, interpretive dance performance.

Miriam Margolyes will narrate Prokofiev's timeless "Peter and the Wolf."
Kyte Photography
Miriam Margolyes will narrate Prokofiev's timeless "Peter and the Wolf."

For the selfie-obsessed (everyone?) Volker Gerling's "Portraits in Motion" casts a sharp focus on the capacity for deep intimacy between strangers through photographs.

Gerling has walked over 3,500 kilometres throughout Germany since 2003, creating flipbook portraits of the people he meets along the way.

Adelaide Festival is on March 3-19, 2017.

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