Dancer from the Dance Festival : Gathering Two

John Scott’s Irish Modern Dance Theatre [IMDT] reboots the company’s annual Dancer From The Dance: Festival of Irish Choreography back to a live setting, gathering the best International and Irish choreographers, teachers, performers, filmmakers in dance, to celebrate all that identifies ‘Irishness’ through the medium of dance.

Gathering Two is a mixed bill featuring an eclectic mix of choreographers including Ruaidhri Maguire, Siamsa Tire with Jonathan Kelliher and Jimmy Hickey, Mary Nunan, Tobi Balogun, Fearghus Ó Conchúir with Isabella Oberlander, and films by Jessie Keenan and Luke Murphy.

Featuring

Ruaidhri Maguire in After/Before
After/Before is an exploration of the definitions of abandonment. The piece explores this word and the three definitions associated with it; the act of leaving permanently and completely, permanently setting aside one’s principles, and the act of giving up control to one’s impulses or to an external force. 

Siamsa Tire with Jonathan Kelliher and Jimmy Hickey in Footsteps
Footsteps is a tribute to this Dance Master tradition of North Kerry, paying homage to those who came before us, who dedicated their lives to protecting, sustaining, and developing this unique form of traditional step dance. 

Fearghus Ó Conchúir with Isabella Oberlander in Unreeled II
As part of an ongoing exploration of queer sanctuary and solidarity between them, Unreeled II asks what new arrangements of support and desire are available between bodies. It is a dance of queer sanctuary and solidarity. 

Mary Nunan in Slant
Slant is not intended to have any meaning. It has a structure and improvised content which is activated by a woman who slips between modes of speaking and moving. Maybe some kind of truth. A truth with no meaning. That’s what she’s after.

Tobi Balogun in Ara – body politics
Ara: Reflections on Race, Masculinity, Mental Health, and Social Structures. Shifting perspectives on how we’re viewed/view ourselves. Not as Black, but human. Explores masculinity and vulnerability through expression of displacement. 

Jessie Keenan’s Fragments (film)
Fragments examines the imperfect nature of memory and the instability of its
fragile reconstruction. With this work, Keenan asks the question: what can we hold on to as our memories alter or even disappear completely?

Luke Murphy’s Written on Skin (film)
Written on Skin is a short film created in collaboration with filmmaker and photographer Patricio Cassinoni exploring and reflecting the work of the Renaissance Skin Project.