Liz Roche & Sarah Cerneaux in ‘Wrongheaded’. Book at www.dancelimerick.ie
Photo: Ewa Figaszewska
SET aside Thursday October 20 at 8pm for Dance Limerick’s atmospheric base in the converted church of St John, in John’s Square.
There are two shows running back to back, Liz Roche’s ‘Wrongheaded’ and ‘Bias’ by Katherine O’Malley – who trained intensively in Russia – in an unusual double bill of contemporary dance.
From the gifted Roche we hear that her work brings together the spoken word by poet Elaine Feeney and a 9-minute film edit of the dancers by Mary Wycherley, based in Limerick. Liz Roche and Sarah Cerneaux perform live, the three art forms interweaving.
This multi-media piece is collaborative, with the concept originating with Roche last summer. Ultimately, working out of various sites (film is shot in Dublin and Wicklow), anticipate “a relentless energy to it,” suggests Roche. “We had six performances in Dublin and one in Dusseldorf. Some people found it a very raw experience, some compelling. Some switched off and came back to it”.
Underlining the strength of Elaine Feeney’s words, she says that when the artists came together they began to speak of their experiences as women in Ireland, especially on issues around the 8th Amendment.
“There were things we agreed on, things we didn’t agree on. We discussed difficulties we faced women in Ireland and the distress experienced by many other women”.
Liz Roche describes the performance space as being between theatrical and liminal, oppressive even, with Mary Wycherley bringing different ideas to it.
Film is layered against Feeney’s urgent delivery and the dancers “engaged in an intense and rhythmically physical duet, constantly at odds with each other”.
