Visiting Artist Programme 2025

Having started as an activity within Big Pulse Dance Alliance, the Visiting Artist Programme gained momentum and was awarded its own Creative Europe funding for a 2-year project (Feb 2025 – Jan 2027).

This new phase of the programme invites artists to visit one of the diverse and vibrant partner dance festivals, meet local artists, attend performances and gain inspiration and expertise as they progress in their work. It will also offer artists the chance to engage with presenters and promoters, providing essential networking opportunities.

DDF is thrilled to be hosting one of the first encounters as part of this project, where 6 artists from around Europe will attend an exciting programme of events including leading Irish and international dance productions, masterclasses, roundtable discussions, networking sessions and festival receptions.

Meet the Artists

Agnija Šeiko
Agnija Šeiko is a renowned Lithuanian contemporary dance choreographer known for her interdisciplinary approach and innovative use of various art forms. She explores themes of identity, dance archaeology and time, and creates a unique dialogue between dance and nature. She has created over 40 works, which have been showcased at numerous dance festivals and venues in Lithuania and internationally. Often staging her works in unconventional locations, she challenges traditional concepts of dance and invites the audience to reconsider their relationship with nature. Agnija Šeiko also leads the Šeiko dance company and the Contemporary Dance Association of Lithuania.

Azucena Moya Morcillo
Azucena Moya Morcillo is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores body practices, ecology, relational geographies, and community art. In 2019, she founded her company, Irregulars, dedicated to contemporary dance and performance in public space. Her passion for walking and cross-disciplinary creation drives her to develop hybrid performative and documentary forms, placing relational aesthetics, body and landscape at the core of her practice. Azucena’s interest for public and common spaces led her to do the Master of Art in Public Space at the FAI-AR school in Marseille. She also has a strong academic background in the field of philosophy of dance.

Femke Gyselinck
Femke Gyselinck is a Brussels-based dancer and choreographer known for her distinctive movement language and interdisciplinary approach. A graduate from P.A.R.T.S. (2006), she began her career as a freelance performer, collaborating with Eleanor Bauer and Andros Zins-Browne and participating in Deborah Hay’s Solo Commissioning Project. From 2010 to 2018, she was the artistic assistant to Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker at Rosas before pursuing her own choreographic career. Her work intricately weaves dance with music, balancing subtle performativity with expressive movement. Gyselinck is one of four artistic directors of GRIP, alongside Jan Martens, Cherish Menzo, and Steven Michel, and is a faculty member at P.A.R.T.S.

Giorgia Lolli
Giorgia Lolli is an Italian dance artist with an MA in Choreography from Helsinki Uniarts. Her work, centred on the agency of female-identifying dancers, has crossed platforms such as Romaeuropa, Gender Bender, Operaestate and Aterballetto. She teaches Dance Well – Movement Research for Parkinson’s and regularly engages in community-based projects.

Ixchel Mendoza Hernández
Ixchel Mendoza Hernández is a Mexican choreographer based in Berlin. Her work explores the concept of the "Visual Ghost," examining presence, absence, and the correlation between perception and inner virtuality. Her choreography examines how invisible phenomena manifest and how realities are reshaped through interaction. Her latest work, “The Infinite Gesture”, premiered in December 2024 at Radialsystem, and her upcoming project, “A Scenario Of A System Off”, will premiere in December 2025 at Radialsystem.

Khamlane Halsackda
Khamlane Halsackda was born in Laos, grew up in the UK, and now lives in Malmö, Sweden. He has worked within dance for 30 years, and this, as well as turning 50 recently, ignites his reflections on ageing, queerness, connection, community, ecology, and sustainability. Khamlane’s work questions, "How can all our perspectives exist in one place at the same time?" He leans on this philosophical question as a way to welcome diverse perspectives and lived experiences into his creative work, embracing dialogue and curiosity.