Dublin Dance Festival 2009

May 8-23 2009 in venues across Dublin

Come dance with us!

Dublin Dance Festival is delighted to announce another world-class programme of contemporary dance in Ireland’s capital city in May 2009 with a host of diverse events in venues across Dublin. Director Laurie Uprichard urges audiences to “have fun, take a chance, be curious!”

Laurie continues, “With the 2009 Festival, our audiences will be able to experience contemporary dance as a vital art form that utilises a range of approaches to frame current issues and global concerns.”

The opening performances of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Apocrifu and Ronald K. Brown/Evidence – A Dance Company’s One Shot will lead audiences into a festival examining issues of cultural and spiritual identity.

Artists will draw on dance styles as well as stories from West Africa, Algeria, Vietnam, the Americas and Australia. From closer to home, a foaming pint of movement and text will reveal the state of bitter England, and audiences will have an opportunity to sample the best of contemporary Irish dance. Re-Presenting Ireland will again showcase the best of Irish choreographic talent with six Irish choreographers including Jean Butler, Ciotóg, junk ensemble, Dylan Quinn, Rex Levitates and Night Star Dance Company, while Irish Modern Dance Theatre and Daghdha Dance Company will be presenting full works.

Topics explored by the Festival programme will range from the supremacy of written language over the body, to the experiences of survivors of violence, to an imagined future for Mr. Jones of Animal Farm after the animals kicked him out. Performed in the nude, Amour, Acide et Noix will explore human fragility, while Structure and Sadness encompasses first the definable forms of a bridge under construction and then the grief and chaos following its collapse.

David Zambrano will present, Soul Project, a vibrant work bursting with soul in all its manifestations. The title of The Ugly Ducklings’ Dancing Cabaret really speaks for itself! This work by Hélène Blackburn at The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children, will bring new international work for young audiences to Dublin.

Music to accompany this dizzyingly eclectic programme will include acclaimed Corsican a capella ensemble A Filetta; Bach, Bellini’s Norma and George Gershwin; the legends of soul music, from Aretha Franklin to James Brown, and the best from Phantom 105.2 DJs.

Events will range in format from multi-media performances to an open-air headphone disco to aerobics classes taught by New York fitness legend Pall Gale, along with master classes with Ronald K. Brown, José Navas and David Zambrano. Dance films will be screened at the Light House Cinema including works by CoisCéim, Irish Modern Dance Theatre and DV8.

TO BOOK FOR DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL 2009

ONLINE from March 9 (and from March 2 for Friends of the Dublin Dance Festival)

EARLY BIRD RATES AVAILABLE ONLINE UNTIL MARCH 31

BY PHONE from April 1
Tel: 01-672 8815

Lines open Monday to Friday 10.00am-5.00pm during April.
Lines open Monday to Saturday 10.00am– 5.00pm from May 1.

IN PERSON from May 1
Dublin Dance Festival Box Office
Temple Bar Cultural Information Centre 12 East Essex Street

Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Open Monday to Saturday 10.00-5.00pm (Also Sunday May 10 12.00pm–3.00pm)
No booking fees. No extra charge for credit cards. Ticket concessions are available for students, senior citizens and the unwaged. Evidence of eligibility will be requested on presentation of your ticket at the venue.

Please make any special needs or seating requirements known to us at time of booking.

THE PROGRAMME

BUMPER 2 BUMPER (A Headphone Disco)

Venue: TBA Date: May 8 Time: 7pm-11pm (Gates open 6.30 pm) Admission is free. All ages welcome.

After its stunning debut in 2008, Bumper 2 Bumper is back, bigger and better than before, this time with experts to pass on some of their trademark moves, and Phantom 105.2 returning to provide the tunes for this unique opening event.

SIDI LARBI CHERKAOUI (Belgium) with A FILETTA (Corsica)

APOCRIFU (2007)

Venue: The Abbey Theatre Dates: May 9/10 Time: 7.30pm
Duration: 75 mins Tickets: 30/22 euro (conc.)/20 euro (early bird)

Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui will open the festival with this highly acclaimed, haunting work. Considered one of the most exciting contemporary choreographers, Larbi has created a powerful work questioning the power of the written word. Larbi has previously worked with Les Ballets C. de la B. and with collaborators ranging from the Shaolin Temple Monks to sculptor Anhony Gormley. The last few years have seen him making a strong impact on the world of European dance. Acclaimed Corsican vocal ensemble A Filetta accompany Apocrifu with their beautiful a capella songs, based on liturgical and poetic texts, befitting a work that illuminates forgotten tales.

EVIDENCE, A DANCE COMPANY – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR RONALD K. BROWN (USA)

ONE SHOT (2007)

Venue: The Abbey Theatre Dates: May12/13 Time: 7.30pm
Duration: 90 mins (incl.15 min interval)
Tickets: 30/22 euro (conc.)/20 euro (early bird)

Praised as “one of the most profound choreographers of his generation” by The New York Times, Ronald K. Brown and the award-winning Evidence, A Dance Company blend African, modern, ballet, and social dance styles to tell the stories of the African Diaspora. In the company’s newest work, One Shot, Brown was inspired by the great African American photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris, nicknamed “One Shot,” because that was all he needed to capture each photograph. Evidence, A Dance Company was founded by Ronald K. Brown in1985. Brown uses movement as a way to reinforce the importance of community in African American culture and to acquaint audiences with the beauty of traditional African forms and rhythms.

DANIEL LÉVEILLÉ DANSE (Québec, Canada)

AMOUR, ACIDE ET NOIX (2001)

Venue: Project Arts Centre, Space Upstairs Dates: May 11/12/13 Time: 8pm
Duration: 60 mins Tickets: 22/18 euro (conc.)/17 euro (early bird)

With no clothing to hide behind, human fragility is revealed – the tenderness of touch and the harshness of life become all the more immediate. Amour, Acide et Noix speaks of both solitude and our need for interaction.

IRISH MODERN DANCE THEATRE

FALL AND RECOVER (2004)

Venue: Project Arts Centre, Space Upstairs Dates: May 14/15/16 Time: 8pm
Duration: 55 mins Tickets: 22/18 euro (conc.)/17 euro (early bird)

Fall and Recover is a moving work created by John Scott in collaboration with survivors of torture from the Centre for Care for Survivors of Torture. The piece draws upon and highlights their extraordinary peace, dignity and determination. Cast members have lost homes, careers, family and health but their dance celebrates the power of the human spirit.

DAGHDHA DANCE COMPANY (Ireland)

STANDING IN INK (2008)

Venue: Project Arts Centre, Cube Dates: May18/19 Time: 7pm
Duration: 46 mins Tickets: 16/13 euro (conc.)/12 euro (early bird)

Two dancers on stage, poised to dance together, a dance that is the result of a year’s worth of dialogue and that tracks their continually changing relationship and perspectives. In performance, they will learn about each other afresh and disclose a new world in dance.

WENDY HOUSTON (UK)

HAPPY HOUR (2001)

Venue: Project Arts Centre, Bar Dates & Times: May 18 @ 9pm; May 20 @ 10pm (You can join Wendy for a drink in the bar half an hour before the show starts.)
Duration: 45 mins Tickets: 13/11 euro (conc.)/10 euro (early bird)

Both disturbing and funny, Happy Hour is a piece about drinking and what happens in a bar. A foaming pint of movement and texture reveal the state of bitter England, all from the mouth of a barmaid on a bender. Houston’s collaborative and solo works have been awarded internationally.

L’A. \ RACHID OURAMDANE (France)

LOIN…(FAR… ) (2008)

Venue: Project Arts Centre, Space Upstairs Dates: May19/20 Time: 8pm
Duration: 60 mins Tickets: 22/18 euro (conc.)/17 euro (early bird)

Based on his father’s journals written during the French occupation of Algeria and his subsequent time fighting for the French in Indochina, and on official and unofficial memories of others, Ouramdane asks, how do people deal with the aftermath of violence? Loin… is a multi-media performance rather than pure choreography. Dance sequences meditate, flail and undulate, integrating with video footage, a pedal-controlled sound score and rushes of Ouramdane’s beat-inspired poetry.

JOSÉ NAVAS (Québec, Canada)

MINIATURES (2008)

Venue: Project Arts Centre, Cube Dates: May 20/21 Time: 7pm
Duration: 40 mins Tickets: 16/13 euro (conc.)/12 euro (early bird)

Miniatures sees renowned choreographer José Navas return to his first love – the solo. Clear, pure and suffused with love and desire, Navas dances to a sumptuous selection of music including Bach, Bellini’s Norma and George Gershwin. This is contemporary dance at its most beautiful and revealing.

IOANA MONA POPOVICI (Romania/Czech Republic)

WORK IN REGRESS (2007)

Venue: Project Arts Centre, Cube Dates & Times: May 21 @ 8.30pm;May 22 @ 7pm
Duration 35 mins Tickets: 16/13 euro (conc.)/12 euro (early bird)

For those who are curious about what happened to Animal Farm’s Mr. Jones, award-winning choreographer Ioana Mona Popovici returns to DDF 09 to show the farmer attempting to bring something, anything, under his control. Darkly humorous, this work looks at the interdependence of master and property, playing out the former master’s adaptation to his own obsolescence.

LUCY GUERIN INC. (Australia)

STRUCTURE AND SADNESS (2006)

Venue: Project Arts Centre, Space Upstairs Dates: May 22/23 Time: 8pm
Duration: 55 mins Tickets: 22/18 euro (conc.)/17 euro (early bird)

Choreographer Lucy Guerin takes the collapse of Melbourne’s Westgate Bridge as a starting point for Structure and Sadness. This complex and arresting dance work bases its movement vocabulary on the engineering principles of compression, suspension, torsion and failure. From the concrete and definable forms of the bridge under construction to the grief and chaos that followed, Structure and Sadness presents a physical, emotional and visual response to a devastating accident.

DAVID ZAMBRANO (Netherlands)

SOUL PROJECT (2006)

Venue: Ss Michael and John’s Dates: May 22/23 Time: 9.30pm
Duration: 90 mins Tickets: 22/18 euro (conc.)/17 euro (early bird)

Led by David Zambrano, a major figure in international contemporary dance, and guided by soul music legends from Aretha Franklin to James Brown and beyond, the dancers individually express their souls’ needs in sound and movement. Soul Project is about being continuously alive; it’s about soul in all its manifestations: spiritual, musical, and personal. Expect great music, expect powerful, imaginative dancing – don’t expect to go away unmoved.

DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL AND THE ARK, A CULTURAL CENTRE FOR CHILDREN, PRESENT
THE 2009 CHILDREN’S SEASON

CAS PUBLIC (Québec, Canada)

THE UGLY DUCKLINGS’ DANCING CABARET (2008)

Dates and Times: May 9/10 @ 1 & 4pm (public performances) May 11 @ 10.15am (schools performance)
Duration: 50 mins Age Range: 5+ Tickets: 10/8 euro (conc.)

Internationally recognised choreographer Hélène Blackburn blends The Ugly Duckling and Swan Lake, as six dancers and a master of ceremonies perform short vignettes with all the style of a 1930s cabaret.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS
PROJECTS AND PROJECTIONS 2 WITH CIARAN GRAY

Date: May 9 Time: 10am–3.30pm Tickets: 20 euro

Following the success of Projects and Projections at The Ark in 2008, Ciarán Gray brings another practical professional development workshop for teachers promoting the use of DVD/CD ROM resources as a stimulus for teaching theatre and dance in primary schools.

DANCE & PERCUSSION WORKSHOPS WITH CINDY CUMMINGS & SIOBHAN DAFFY

Date: May 12–15 Times: 10.15am & 12.15pm (for schools) Duration: 60 mins
Class Range: 2nd Class + Price: 6.50/4.50 euro

Dance artist Cindy Cummings and percussionist Siobhán Daffy lead hands-on dance and drumming workshops for teachers and their pupils, teaching movement techniques and drumming methods from around the world.

RE-PRESENTING IRELAND / MIXED BILLS

Dublin Dance Festival and Dance Ireland are committed to bringing audiences the best of Irish choreographic talent. This year, again in partnership with Culture Ireland, they are showcasing the work of six choreographers whose work is representative of the exciting directions that contemporary dance is taking in Ireland. The Mixed Bill programmes will be presented as follows:

Venue: DanceHouse
Dates: May 15/16/22/23
Times: Mixed Bill 1 @ 1pm; Mixed Bill 2 @ 3pm
Tickets: 10/15 euro (for same day performances of Mixed Bills 1 & 2)

MIXED BILL 1

JUNK ENSEMBLE DRINKING DUST; DYLAN QUINN EXTRACTS FROM FALLOUT AND BONUS TRACKS; REX LEVITATES GETTING LOST

MIXED BILL 2

NIGHT STAR DANCE COMPANY WATCH … ES; JEAN BUTLER THICKER THAN THIS; CIOTÓG PHRASES FROM A LOST YEAR

WORKSHOPS, MASTERCLASSES AND ARTIST TALKS

STEP RIGHT UP! DANCE STEP CLASS

Venue: Trinity College Sports Centre, Fitness Studio
Dates: May 9/10 Time: 11.00–12.00pm Tickets: 10 euro

New York fitness legend Pall Gale returns to DDF this year with his pumping aerobics for all of those who might be feeling a little sluggish. Prior dance training is not necessary to get the best from this exciting mix of basic step moves with added musical theatre spice, but a good sense of fun is essential!

MASTERCLASSES

Dublin Dance Festival, in association with Dance Ireland, is delighted to be offering three dance masterclasses with selected artists whose work will be presented during the festival. The morning masterclasses are aimed at professional dancers and dance students, but the David Zambrano masterclass is open to all levels. Classes cost €12 for Dance Ireland members or €14 for non-members. Bookings can be made in advance by contacting Dance Ireland on 01 885 8800.

Ronald K. Brown Venue: DanceHouse Date: May 13 Time: 10–11.30am

José Navas Venue: DanceHouse Date: May 21 Time: 10–11.30am

David Zambrano Venue: DanceHouse Date: May 23 Time: 4.30–6pm

ARTIST TALKS

Dublin Dance Festival will also present a series of moderated pre- and post-show discussions with artists and performers, including Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Ronald K. Brown, throughout the festival.

DANCE ON FILM, PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA SMITHFIELD

Triple Bill:

HIT AND RUN (2002) COISCÉIM (56 mins)
ETERNAL (2008) IRISH MODERN DANCE THEATRE (7 mins)
THE COST OF LIVING (2004) DV8 (35 mins)

Venue: Light House Cinema Date: May 17 Time: 4pm
Tickets: 7.50/6.00 euro (conc.)
CoisCéim’s HIT AND RUN, premièred during the 2002 festival, makes a return to the screen with its dark and edgy movement narrative. Eternal is a short film by Irish Modern Dance Theatre in collaboration with 1Eye films, shot on location in Palestine. Hard-hitting, intensely physical and graceful all at once, DV8’s award winning film The Cost of Living rounds off the triple bill.

FESTIVAL CLUB

The Octagon Bar, The Clarence, Wellington Quay, Dublin 2 is this year’s DDF Festival Club.

DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL IS BROUGHT TO YOU WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF:

FUNDERS Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon
Dublin City Council, Fáilte Ireland
CULTURAL PARTNERS Culture Ireland, Dance Ireland, Dublin Docklands Development Agency, Temple Bar Cultural Trust, Embassy of Belgium in Ireland, Embassy of France in Ireland, Embassy of The United States of America in Ireland, Québec Government Office London, Alliance Française, Dublin West Education Centre, Navan Education Centre.

MEDIA PARTNERS RTÉ Supporting the Arts, The Irish Times, Phantom 105.2

VENUE PARTNERS Abbey Theatre, DanceHouse, Project Arts Centre, The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children, Ss Michael and John

DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL SUPPORTERS Hotel St. George, The Clarence

SPONSORS Continental, PJT Insurance Services Ltd, Magpie 21st Audiovisual

DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL PATRONS An Post, Peter J. Pih & Martina Andorfer

FESTIVAL PARTNERS Dance Ireland, Kay Scorah, Dermot McLaughlin & Ursula Kennedy, Laurie Uprichard