Dance Double Bill : New works by David Bolger & Lucyna Zwolinska

The performances feature six exceptional dance artists, selected from a competitive open call earlier in 2021. They are Alexandra Ayvazova, Mia Bradley-Evans, Mia DiChiaro, Corina Hoser, Elena Paltracca and Rosie Stebbing. STEP UP is curated by Irish born, Marguerite Donlon (IRL/DE), choreographer and Director of Donlon Dance Collective, based in Berlin.

Prior to the performances, there is a Premiere Screening of the new dance film Amergin by choreographer Luke Murphy, created with the 2020 project participants on location in West Cork. The 2020 artists are Ellen Finlay, Dylan Holly, Nick Nikolaou, Niamh O’Flannagain, Hannah Rogerson and Eilise Sullivan.

They Started Chanting Too by David Bolger. As the world reopens and our right to gather is reinstated, we ask what are our hopes for the future? What will our dance be about? Six bright young dance artists explore personal narratives, articulating their stories as images of protest emerge. The answers transform into a physical score that drives the narrative forward and emerges into a kaleidoscope of hope, dreams, and an energetic future.

Gafa Cois Farraige is a new contemporary dance piece by Lucyna Zwolinska. The work is inspired by the lighthouse as a symbol of loneliness, but also hope, something that follows us during the ebb and flow of our lifetime. In the Buddhist tradition, all things are considered as either evolving from, or dissolving into, nothingness. This “nothingness” is not empty space. It is rather a space of potentiality. ‘If the seas represent potential, then each thing is like a wave arising from it and returning to it. There are no permanent waves. There are no perfect waves. At no point is a wave complete, even at its peak. Nature is seen as a dynamic whole that is to be admired and appreciated.’

Step Up Dance Project, now in its eleventh year, is a partnership between the Arts Council, Dance Ireland, Dance Limerick and the Irish World Academy for Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. The project has featured 64 Emerging Artists, 20 Professional Choreographers, 39 Teachers and Coaches, and 28 Public Performances since it began in 2011.

BIOGRAPHIES

David Bolger is the Artistic Director and co-founder of CoisCéim Dance Theatre. His work has been seen by millions of people worldwide and has received prestigious awards for its innovation, performance, and choreography. Over the last two decades, David has directed and choreographed over 20 original productions for CoisCéim, including the acclaimed Swimming with my Mother, Agnes, The Wolf and Peter and Body Language.

Lucyna Zwolinska was born in Poland and began her training at Ballet School in Bytom. From 2003 she continued her dance education on scholarship at High School of Music & Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), where she also danced in works by Georg Balanchine, William Forsythe and Marguerite Donlon. In 2019 she created reflexio, and in 2020 she received the cultural prize of Zonta-Club Saarlouis and started to work on new collaborative project B&Z PRODUCTIONS with musician Gabriele Basilico.

FUNDING

STEP UP DANCE PROJECT, now in its eleventh year, is a partnership between the Arts Council, Dance Ireland, Dance Limerick and the Irish World Academy for Music and Dance at the University of Limerick.