DDF News — 14 Apr 2016
Press Release: Dublin Dance Festival Programme Announcement
DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME ANNOUNCEMENT.
PRESS RELEASE
17th-28th May 2016
Extraordinary artists will present world-class dance as Dublin Dance Festival comes to town 17th – 28th May, in a programme launched 22nd March by Dr. Emily Mark FitzGerald at Dublin’s Drury Buildings.
This is the first festival programmed by new DDF director Benjamin Perchet, who promises 2016 audiences “an inspiring journey of aesthetic pleasure and intellectual stimulus”, exploring themes of migration, mobility and transformation. The programme will present work by artists who blur the lines between artforms and will offer unique and eye-opening experiences of dance, via world premieres, film screenings, exhibitions, discussions, master classes and more.
Dublin Dance Festival is the leading dance event on the Irish arts calendar, bringing together dance artists and choreographers from around the globe each May to share vibrant contemporary dance with audiences in Ireland. The 2016 edition will feature work from the U.S.A., Canada, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, France and the UK, as well as showcasing and celebrating contemporary dance from Irish artists.
Highly anticipated highlights of this year’s programme include:
Spectacular contemporary ballet at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from legendary US ballet master Alonzo King
Cristiana Morganti, long-standing soloist of the iconic Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal, with her new solo show
A captivating experience for all the family from multi-award-winning choreographer Akram Khan, co-presented with The Ark, at the O'Reilly Theatre
The European premiere of critically acclaimed new dance-theatre work by Olivier Award-winning Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite and pioneering playwright/performer Jonathon Young
The world premiere of a new piece featuring renowned step dancers from the US, Canada and Ireland, co-commissioned by Dublin Dance Festival and Siamsa Tíre , The National Folk Theatre of Ireland
New work from Irish choreographer Liz Roche, exploring contemporary experiences of Diaspora in today’s digital age in a double-bill with a new piece by Katherine O’Malley
An energetic piece by Greek choreographer Patricia Apergi that melds diverse dance traditions with hip hop and street dance
‘Dance on Film’ at Project Arts Centre featuring a South African Swan Lake exploring issues of gender and homophobia, and a screening of Alonzo King’s Constellation, with the iconic choreographer in attendance
Originate 2016, a new initiative of Dublin Dance Festival, Dance Ireland and Culture Ireland to provide a platform for new and recent dance being produced in Ireland today
A discussion curated by DDF & Create Ireland with leading thinkers and artists on how art can approach the urgent matters of today: migration, identity, mobility and territory
A psychedelic trip from the sacred to the profane, from pop to sci-fi, by way of a light saber and metres of crumpled foil, from Fernando Belfiore
A family day of free dance events in Merrion Square Park including a Baby Boogie, tea dance tent, family hula hooping workshops and more in Moveable Feast - bring a picnic and the Festival will bring the dance!
SPECTACULAR CONTEMPORARY BALLET FROM US BALLET MASTER ALONZO KING
One of the true ballet masters of our times, Alonzo King brings his celebrated contemporary ballet company on a first visit to Ireland. The twelve extraordinary dancers will be presenting two technically brilliant and sublimely beautiful works at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on Sunday 22nd May. This exquisite programme bridges classical ballet technique and modernity and showcases King’s visionary choreographic style. This will be the second time that the Festival will present a piece at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, following the success of Cloud Gate in 2011. A special Gala Evening ticket is available, including dinner and drinks in the Circle Club and an exclusive post-show drinks reception with the choreographer and dancers.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE: BETROFFENHEIT
"There are those who have seen Betroffenheit and those who need to... The experience feels that historical; the effect is that relentless; the dancing is that good" said Canada’s broadsheet, The Globe and Mail. Dublin Dance Festival are thrilled to present the European premiere of this critically acclaimed new dance-theatre work by Olivier Award-winning Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite and pioneering playwright/performer Jonathon Young. Epic, engrossing and visually arresting, Betroffenheit touches on universal themes of trauma, loss, addiction and recovery. Using movement, comedy, drama and text, five extraordinary performers provide a glossy cabaret of distraction to Young’s tragic central character. This major new production has taken North America by storm – and is a stunning testament to the transformative power of art.
THEME: MIGRATION AND TRANSFORMATION
The 2016 festival will open with the Irish premiere of Planites from Greek choreographer Patricia Apergi. This intensely physical, urban fusion piece for five dancers focuses on the foreigner, the immigrant - the person who travels, whether by choice or by force. In creating Planites, Apergi soaked up traditional step dance in Dublin, flamenco in Barcelona, and Arabic and African moves in France, which she combined with her own choreography influenced by hip-hop, street culture and actions related to protest to produce this work of high energy and sharp humour.
Migration will also be one of the topics of this year’s Moving Conversations, presented in collaboration with Create Ireland. Eckhard Thiemann, Artistic Director of Shubbak, the London-wide festival of contemporary Arab culture; Karthika Naïr, award-winning French-Indian poet and dance producer, and principal scriptwriter of Akram Khan’s Chotto Desh; and Greek stage director, short-filmmaker and performer Euripides Laskaridis will discuss how art and artists can reach across political, cultural, geographic and socio-economic divides and approach the urgent matters of today.
Cristiana Morganti, world renowned for her work with Pina Bausch, will present her one woman show Jessica and Me for the first time outside her native Italy. With a shock of black curls, an infectious laugh and a pair of red stilettos, Morganti offers a tantalising glimpse into her career, from her classical ballet training to her fateful meeting with Pina, told with irresistible charm, talent and comic flair.
Fernando Belfiore will be taking audiences on a psychedelic trip of intense sensations and heightened emotions in AL13FB<3, into a futuristic world drenched in colour and light.
Acclaimed French company Cie 14:20 will present a magical evening of three pieces: in Ellipses 30’, Aragorn Boulanger, who has been collaborating with Cie 14:20 in the field of ‘new magic’ since 2010, appears and re-appears, as if in a dreamlike state. In Etoiles, juggler Etienne Saglio seems to achieve the impossible, as illuminated spheres multiply and glide through the air. Finally, Variations pour Piano et Polystyrène sees Saglio transform a thin sheet of polystyrene into a magical, flying dance partner accompanied by pianist Madeleine Cazenave.
In advance of his performance with Cie 14:20, Boulanger will lead a three-day master class at the Dublin Circus Project. Participants will be invited to experiment with Aragorn’s ‘Windstyle’, a technique inducing permanent flow that is rooted in Qi Gong and martial arts. The workshop will culminate in two free outdoor performances by the fifteen participants on Sandymount Beach.
Euripides Laskaridis from Greece, a 2016 Pina Bausch Fellow, grapples with ideas of ridicule and transformation directly related to his country’s recent unrest. Outrageous and uniquely memorable, his Relic is both entertaining and tragic, amusing and shocking, with elements of cabaret, vaudeville and slapstick.
Swiss Ioannis Mandafounis & Irish Aoife McAtamney collaborate for One One One, offering their audience an intimate, unnerving and unique dance experience. One dancer focuses on one audience member, maintaining eye contact, and reacting to the spectator both physically and mentally. This event is free of charge. Audiences are invited to drop-in to the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire on 27th May or the Hugh Lane Gallery on the 28th May to observe or even take part.
ORIGINATE 2016: DANCE FROM IRELAND
Originate 2016 is an initiative of Dublin Dance Festival, Dance Ireland and Culture Ireland. It is a platform for new and recent choreographic work made in Ireland, and in its inaugural year will present the following works:
Co-commissioned by Dublin Dance Festival and Siamsa Tíre, The National Folk Theatre of Ireland, Anam, (meaning ‘soul’) brings together the skills of world-class step dancers from the US, Canada and Ireland in an exhilarating fusion of styles. Authentic and raw, the world premiere of this percussive dance piece will be performed with live music and song by acclaimed musician Fergal O’Murchú.
Leading Irish choreographer Liz Roche will premiere new work Time Over Distance Over Time, bringing together an exceptional group of dance and film artists to explore how we deal with the physical and emotional distances we encounter while living at opposite ends of the planet. This work will be presented with another premiere, Bias, from dance artist Katherine O’Malley working with video artist Mark Linane and composer Daragh Dukes, which questions the split second judgements we make every day.
Another Irish double bill will see Liadain Herriott present Liminal, for which she was awarded ‘Best Performer’ at Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival 2015. Liminal tells the story of a classical girl living in a modern world, while the densely atmospheric and cinematic Folds of the Crane from Justine Cooper is inspired by black holes, flick books, and the many sides of the self.
For one night only, Dylan Quinn Dance Company will present Fulcrum, inspired by some of the themes of Samuel Beckett’s play Catastophe. Fulcrum explores the complexity of human dependency and the treacherous nature of power. Set to an original score by Andy Garbi, two dancers interact in a duet of intricate and emotionally charged movement, combining vocal pieces, breath chanting, music and dance.
The Festival will also be giving audiences a chance to see studio sharings at DanceHouse of works-in-development from exciting Irish artists Maria Nilsson Waller, Oona Doherty, Helga Deasy, Laura Murphy & Rob Heaslip, in the First Looks programme.
At the O’Reilly Theatre, The Akram Khan Company will present the heart-warming Chotto Desh, a captivating experience for all the family from this multi-award-winning choreographer. Chotto Desh is thrilling and poignant tale of a young man’s dreams and memories from Britain to Bangladesh, told using a magical mix of dance, text, visuals and sound. This family show for ages 7+ is co-presented by Dublin Dance Festival and The Ark. There will also be a creative dance workshop for children aged 7-12 years at The Ark, lead by the Chotto Desh dancers.
Bring along a picnic basket to the Moveable Feast in Merrion Square Park on Sunday 22nd May from 11am-2pm, for fun, free dance activities for all ages. A Baby Boogie for the 0-3s with Dylan Quinn Dance Theatre, a tea dance tent with CoisCéim Broadreach and members of The Dance Ensemble 50+, ‘upside down’ workshops for kids with Dublin Youth Dance Company, family hula-hooping workshops with Dublin Circus Project, and a Zumba finale are just some of the activities on the menu.
Project Arts Centre will transform into a cinema to screen two full-length dance performances. An explosive, passionate Swan Lake from South African dancer and choreographer Dada Masilo combines classical ballet and African dance, and Tchaikovsky’s music with contemporary composers to tackle issues of gender and homophobia in a country ravaged by AIDS. Iconic American choreographer, Alonzo King will attend a screening of his luminous Constellation, a collaboration with video artist Jim Campbell who designs and develops movement-capturing technologies.
Dublin Dance Festival Box Office at Festival House, the Festival’s new home along with Dublin Theatre Festival and Theatre Forum, will be home to DRAFF: another exhibition, investigating the process of making dance work with a series of behind-the-scenes fragments from some of the shows in the 2016 programme. Images, objects, sounds, text and video will offer insight into the journey undertaken by festival artists. Project Arts Centre will be the venue for Here and through, an installation and short video by Luca Truffarelli developed for Embodied, a GPO Witness History Public Art Commission. Truffarelli has been responsible for some of the most stunning and beautiful photography and film relating to the Irish dance scene in recent years.
Dublin Dance Festival is delighted to offer an extensive schedule of seven master classes and workshops by Festival artists for professional dancers, dance and performance students and children.
BOOKING FOR DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL 2016
ONLINE from March 23rd | www.dublindancefestival.ie
BY PHONE from May 3rd | Tel: + 353 1 673 0660
IN PERSON from May 3rd | Dublin Dance Festival Box Office @ Festival House, 12 East Essex Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
OPENING HOURS for phone lines & Box Office: Mon-Fri: 10am-6.30pm | Sat: 11am-6.30pm | Sun 12noon-3pm. Closed 8th & 15th May.
DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL WOULD LIKE TO THANK:
PRINCIPAL FUNDER Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon
FUNDERS Dublin City Council, Fáilte Ireland
MEDIA PARTNERS RTÉ Supporting the Arts, The Irish Times
Festival Partners: Aerowaves, An Post, Canada Council for the Arts, Create, Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, Culture Ireland, Dance Ireland, Dublin Circus Project, Dunne and Crescenzi, DRAFF, EUNIC Ireland, Fondation BNP Paribas, Fonds Podium Kunsten/Performing Arts Fund NL, Goethe-Institut Irland, GPO Witness History, Embassy of Greece to Ireland, Irish Massage Therapists Association, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Live Collision, LPM Bohemia, Odia Normandie, SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques), Swiss Arts Council Prohelvetia, Siamsa Tíre, The Ark.
Venue Partners: Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, DanceHouse, Fringe Lab, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, O’Reilly Theatre, Pavilion Theatre, Project Arts Centre, Samuel Beckett Theatre, The Ark, The Complex.
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For further information about the Dublin Dance Festival please contact:
Web: www.dublindancefestival.ie Tel: +353 1 679 86 58
Facebook: DublinDanceFestival Twitter: @DublinDanceFest
For further media information please contact:
Stephanie Dickenson | stephaniedickenson12@gmail.com | + 353 (0) 87 993 7650