Originate – Artist Pitches Croí Glan | John Scott Dance | Off the Rails Dance

This year’s Originate – Artist Pitches will include presentations from:

Croí Glan / Tara Brandel

Led by Artistic Director Tara Brandel, Croí Glan is an award winning contemporary dance company celebrating diverse bodies on stage, and a flagship company for EDI with a case study in the new AC EDI handbook. Creating 22 works since 2006, Croí Glan has toured nationally and internationally. Highlights of the company’s body of work include Liz Roche's An Outside Understanding (Dublin Dance Festival 2013, nominated Best Performers Dublin Fringe), the multi-award-winning short film Armour Off! (in collaboration with Invisible Thread, Caroline Bowditch and Linda Fearon), and David Bolger's On the Wall (performed in 25 locations including Miami, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Barcelona, Bern, and Turku).

Croí Glan’s most recent productions include TILT, an integrated aerial dance show (Cork Midsummer, Tipperary Dance Festival and Dancer from the Dance Festival) and In Place a site-specific performance made at IMMA. Croí Glan is EDI Company in Residence at Uillinn Arts Centre 2022-25.

John Scott Dance / John Scott

John Scott Dance is a Dublin-based ensemble led by dancer, singer and choreographer John Scott. They produce works with diverse casts by John Scott and commissioned choreographers. John Scott is a member of Aosdána, Ireland's affiliation of creative artists under the patronage of the President of Ireland. Scott’s work addresses identity, diversity, love and metaphysics. Scott also performs in Oona Doherty's Hard to be Soft.

Upcoming projects include a new work by US choreographer, Abby Zbikowski and a choreographic response to John Cage/Merce Cunningham’s Roaratorio by Mel Mercier and John Scott. Recent tours include La MaMa, New York; Cork Midsummer Festival; Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London; Dance Base Edinburgh; Queer Zagreb; Sounded Bodies Festival, Croatia; New York Live Arts; Irish Arts Center; New York; 92NY, New York; Kilkenny Arts Festival; Galway International Arts Festival; Dublin Dance Festival; Five Lamps Arts Festival; Les Hivernales, Avignon; Dancing Roads, Bremen; Internationale Tanzmesse NRW, Germany; and Racconti di Altre Danze, Livorno, Italy.

John Scott Dance is strategically funded by The Arts Council | An Chomhairle Ealaíon with additional funding by Dublin City Council and Culture Ireland.


Off the Rails Dance / Eileen McCloy

Off the Rails (OTR) Dance’s mission is to carve choreographic narratives that fearlessly explore topical themes, peeling back the layers of social conventions to reveal hidden voices. The company’s artistic quest revolves around authenticity as they explore raw, highly physical movement material that mirrors the intricacies of the human condition.

Over the years, OTR has become synonymous with daring and innovative work. From various short pieces to three evening-length productions, including critically acclaimed GUTTER (2020, Belfast International Festival), The Dutiful Wife (2015, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, The MAC, Belfast), and S(e)nsored (2011, Pick n Mix Festival, Belfast). Each piece is a testament to OTR’s commitment to pushing artistic boundaries.

In August, OTR will premiere ROOTS, a large-scale dance, gardening and audio experience inspired by the concept of rewilding the Belfast Peace Walls at Black Mountain Shared Space, Belfast, commissioned by Belfast City Council as part of BELFAST 2024.