Navigate International Residency Dublin Dance Festival & Maison de la Danse/La Biennale de Lyon
Ireland / France
The Navigate International Residency Programme is an exciting bilateral artist residency initiative that offers opportunities for dance artists from diverse cultural backgrounds and informal, self-taught training to develop their choreographic language.
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Dublin Dance Festival is delighted to partner with Maison de la Danse/La Biennale de Lyon on this exciting programme which aims to provide a crucial opportunity for one artist based in Ireland and one in France, along with artistic collaborators to take part in a residency.
Selected artists will benefit from reflection, exploration, and creation within a local context during their residency. Alongside accommodation and studio space, Dublin Dance Festival and Maison de la Danse/La Biennale De Lyon will connect artists with local choreographers and artists, offering mentorship and support to enrich their artistic practice.
The programme kicks off with Mufutau Yusuf from Ireland and Nach from Marseille, France, embarking on a journey of research, networking, and professional exchanges.
Yusuf spent a three-week residency at Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France in March, accompanied by three collaborators: dancer-choreographer Lucas Katangila, and creatives Alison Brown and Mick Donohue. Nach will follow, starting her residency in mid-June at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in County Monaghan, Ireland and returning in August to continue her research, including exchanges with artists from the local Irish hip hop scene.
A key focus of the programme is the partnership between Dublin Dance Festival and Maison de la Danse/La Biennale de Lyon, aiming to support self-taught artists and those from diverse cultural and dance backgrounds. Both partner organisations will document the residencies and exchange learnings, linking the residency programme and artists with wider dance communities.
This programme is supported by the Arts Council International Residency Initiative Scheme.
About Mufutau Yusuf
Mufutau Yusuf is a Nigeria-born Irish performer, choreographer, teacher, and curator. A graduate of Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, Mufutau is a dancer with Ultima Vez in Belgium and in Ireland with Liz Roche Company, John Scott’s IMDT, United Fall, Catherine Young Dance, to name a few.
As a choreographer, Mufutau debuted his first full-length work ‘Òwe’ in 2022, which premiered in New York and Dublin Fringe Festival. Mufutau is an associate artist with Solstice Arts Centre and Liz Roche Company and a recipient of the Irish Arts Council Dance Bursary award 2020 and Project Award 2022 and 2023.
His passion for improvisation and sharing has bought him to share his teaching practice to various platforms, festivals, and institution. Mufutau is a co-curator of ‘TW1’ (Train With One), a bi-monthly workshop platform which aims to bridge the gap between the Irish contemporary dance scene with that of continental Europe.
About Nach
Nach discovered Krump by chance at the age of 22, coming across performances in front of the Opéra de Lyon. She quickly became immersed in this urban dance whose strength she had only previously glimpsed in Rize, the famous David Lachapelle documentary.
The street became her first school where she found a community willing to share their knowledge with her. She was immediately fascinated by the power and breadth of emotion – from elation to rage – expressed by this dance style which she calls “the gospel of the suburbs”. Incorporating influences from diverse artforms from Kathakali and flamenco to poetry, visual art and film, Nach developed a distinctive choreographic language.
Nach has collaborated with artists including Marcel Bazonnet and Angela Bello, and was a resident artist at the Kujoyama Villa (2018) and artistic fellow at the CCN de la Rochelle (2018 – 2020). She is currently Associate Artist at the renowned Maison de la Danse in Lyon and is part of the NAVIGATE Residency Exchange, a DDF initiative in partnership with La Biennale de Lyon – Danse / Maison de la Danse (Lyon).