COMMITTED to being a platform for young dancers and nascent professionals, Dance Limerick is creating a new festival to further the mission. Taking place in early February and culminating in dance performances on the 8th and 9th, we hear from the resource centre’s Emer Casey that there will be a welcome for international choreographers and professional exchanges as well as workshops, networking and of course, shows to appreciate.
All will fall under the banner of ‘What Next Dance Festival’.
Dance Limerick director “Jenny Traynor came up with this concept she had been thinking of for a few years,” explains Emer. “Dance Limerick has a lot of emerging, early career dance artists and there is a lot coming out of Limerick. They are making work and there is not much opportunity to show it to a live audience. What Next will be a platform to show their work and in a wider context”.
Note that the MA in Contemporary Dance Performance at UL’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance “typically yields eight or nine graduates annually. Four of them from 2016 alone are still based here in Limerick and more will travel here for work as Dance Limerick is a resource centre.
“Jenny, along with people she has spoken to, has identified those making work or who have shown two of three times thus far.
“From the start the week will be almost like a residency for dancers, an immersive learning week for them”.
Fearghus O Conchuir, established choreographer and dancer, returns to lead in upskilling, the sharing of techniques and other elements of dance practice. Also Airwaves artists, part of the Airwaves’ sponsored international network of selected performances who are backed by participating venues such as Dance Limerick. They will show us what they got.
Laura Murphy’s so called ‘bucket dance’, family friendly, will be part of the skits and giggles as well as new work coming out.
Look forward ultimately to three different performances for the public as well as the professional cohort.
www.dancelimerick.ie as the programme unfolds.
