• Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
  • Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer

Northern Ireland | Dublin Dance Festival in association with the Abbey Theatre

Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer
(Oona Doherty )

A Bright White Limbo.
Four Episodes… like Sci Fi Stations of the Cross.
An Alternative Reality.
Belfast.

Trailblazing dancer and choreographer Oona Doherty, in collaboration with renowned DJ and composer David Holmes and designer Ciaran Bagnall, presents Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer. A reflection on their hometown, this four-part dance work is based on the experiences and realities of living in today’s Belfast. 

Exploring masculinity, sectarianism, culture, class and sexuality, Doherty abstracts the memories of her youth to create a physical prayer; a celebration of all that we have and an invocation for all that we are missing. This powerful new piece features a unique cast of performers, including ten Hip-Hop dancers from Belfast’s Ajendance Youth Dance Company.

A prodigious talent, Doherty has garnered international attention as one of Europe’s most gifted and promising dance artists, most recently winning the Total Theatre Award for Dance at the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and receiving rave reviews for her standout performance in the Enda Walsh’s Arlington.

Concept & Choreography: Oona Doherty
Performers: Oona Doherty; Ajendance Youth Dance Company featuring Caitlin Shaw, Ellen Burns, Lucy Burns, Zara Janahi, Beatriz Pina, Lynn Gourley, Rachel Harris, Nicole Wray & Niamh McErlane; John Scott & Bryan Quinn; Ryan O’ Neill, Ryan McQuillan, Timmy Ajsafe & Nicola McLoughlin.

Abbey Theatre, on the Abbey stage

  • Dates
    Fri 18 & Sat 19 May
  • Times
    7.30pm
  • Duration
    60 mins approx. (no interval)
  • Cost

Notes
This performance contains coarse language.

★★★★★ “It’s riveting and moving, and she’s a simply phenomenal performer… It’s a raw, switched-on, fragmented and yet meticulously detailed performance, swift and clear and full of sharp body language underpinned by a blistering, intuitive intelligence.” - The Times on 'Hope Hunt and the Ascension Into Lazarus'

★★★★ “A powerful stage presence…there’s nothing usual about Doherty. She begins to dance and her movement is instantly captivating…This is dance with grit in its veins, with dirt under its fingernails and a violent secret in its heart.” - The Scotsman on 'Hope Hunt and the Ascension Into Lazarus'

 

Supported by

Co-commissioned by Dublin Dance Festival, the Abbey Theatre Dublin, Prime Cut Productions and Belfast International Arts Festival. Supported through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Support for the Individual Artist Major Award and The British Council.

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