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Unsuspecting guests at Adelaide's Hilton are about to realise they are adding to the background of an Adelaide Festival dance production.
The Restless Dance company, which includes artists with and without disabilities, will take a very select audience from the foyer to the bowels of the hotel, in a show that challenges perceptions of disability and puts the local company on the mainstream arts map.
It is business as usual at the Hilton Hotel unless you look very carefully.
There is a few extra 'staff' and some inconspicuous 'guests' positioned for the Restless Dance production Intimate Space.
Just 10 people will see each show, where performers will start their routine among unsuspecting hotel bar guests.
The location is the brainchild of Restless Dance artistic director Michelle Ryan, who identified something missing in Adelaide's bars and restaurants.
"I've always noticed that there's very rarely you see anyone with disability and I kind of went why is that?," she said.
"So I thought putting our dancers looking glamorous and beautiful in the iconic hotel in Adelaide was a perfect match."
The show takes the audience to 11 different spots around the hotel including an intimate performance in a hotel bedroom to the commercial laundry.
Adelaide Hilton general manager Peer Norsell said incorpating the production into the hotel's space was "fairly simple".
"We've had to tweak a couple of things, but Restless Dance has been fantastic to work with and we've enjoyed the challenge of trying to work around them," he said.
The audience gets up close and personal with the performers, which could provide some challenges for the likes of Michael Noble, 19, when family members come to watch.
"I just hope they don't try and talk to me during my show," he said.
"I can just imagine my mum like, we go up in a lift at one point … my mum is probably going to say something along the lines of like, that's my son right there in the lift or something.
"I'm just hoping that's not going to happen."
It is a massive moment in the company's 26-year history as it looks to secure east coast and overseas tours.
"I feel like it's real watershed moment for our company to be in a mainstream festival and when you look at all the promotional material, it's beautiful, it's schmick," Ryan said.
Intimate Space runs until March 19.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, carnivals-and-festivals, events, dance, adelaide-5000, sa