Gathering Two - Dancer From The Dance Festival of Irish Choreography 2026

Dancer from the Dance Festival of Irish Choreography is a series of mixed programmes or gatherings of Irish and Irish-identifying choreographers, crossing borders of ethnicity, dance practices, generations, genders and dance styles from Contemporary to sean nós to classical ballet. Now in its 8th year, the festival features over 22 choreographers performing short exciting dance works celebrating the strength and diversity of the Irish identity and the Irish dance landscape.

Ashley Chen (Company Kashyl) – Tumble (Choreography and performance)  – 25 minutes 

Safire Hikari and Yves Lorrhan – Stray (Choreography and performance) –  

Alex O’Neill, Toss The Feathers  

Zoë Ashe Browne – Sibling (Choreographer); dancers: Christina Guieb and Toon Theunissen. – 8 minutes 

intermission 

Astrid Sweeney – Work in Progress: Unhinged (Choreographer and performance); soundscape and live performance: Moss Kissing – 20 minutes 

Fiona Quilligan – Signals (Choreography); music: Fergus Johnston; performers: Dominic Harrison, Niamh O’Flannagain, Jiyeong Kim, and Mirela Romano – 20 Minutes 

BBOYALEON – BBOYALEON Solo (Choreography and performance) 5 Minutes 

Programme Description 

Ashley Chen (Company Kashyl), Tumble 

A choreographic stream of consciousness, Tumble traces Ashley Chen’s dance career through bodily memory – elegant, grounded, yet always on the edge of falling. 

Ashley Chen trained at the Conservatoire Supérieur in Paris. He danced with Merce Cunningham Dance Company before joining Lyon Opera Ballet. Since 2006, he has worked throughout Europe with choreographers including John Scott, Michael Clark, Boris Charmatz and Philippe Decouflé. Chen founded Compagnie Kashyl in 2012. Recent works include Dégringolade and The Exponential Growth of Small Errors. 

Safire Hakirki and Yves Lorrhan, Stray 

Stray is a partner dance duet exploring the act of sharing a kiss as a metaphor for moments in our lives that call us to transform through moments of resistance or immobility. Blending contemporary dance, tango and Brazilian zouk, acrobatics, and physical theatre. Stray embodies our meandering search for novel, 21st-Century human connections: hybrid communities, fluid identities, and most importantly the wisdom and willingness to carry each other’s weight. 

Safire Hikari is a Traveller multidisciplinary artist working across dance, physical theatre and circus. Rooted in partnering, their collaborative practice explores connection, belonging and movement through performance, teaching and international collaboration. 

Yves Lorrhan is a Brazilian dance artist, choreographer, teacher, and facilitator based in Ireland. With over 26 years of experience, he combines Afro-Brazilian, contemporary, and social dance to create expressive, community-focused work. He has collaborated with leading Irish dance organisations and facilitates workshops that foster creativity, confidence, and meaningful human connection through movement 

Alex O’Neill, Toss The Feathers 

Exploring movement through Irish music with a modern and playful twist 

Alex O’Neill has toured internationally, appeared in acclaimed film, television, theatre and commercials, collaborated with leading brands, and performed with CoisCéim and ANU Productions across award-winning productions and festivals. 

Zoë Ashe Browne, Sibling 

Choreographer: Zoë Ashe Browne 

Dancers Christina Guieb and Toon Theunissen 

This duet explores the singular bond of siblinghood through themes of play, tethering, and deep mutual understanding. Cyclical and intimate in nature, the work reflects the innate ways we love, challenge, and recognise one another beyond words.  

Zoë Ashe-Browne is an award-winning Irish choreographer, educator, and former professional dancer from Dublin. With a rich international career, she has performed for 16 years with prestigious companies like the English National Ballet and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV). She is currently the Artist in Residence at Luail (Ireland’s National Dance Company) and guest rehearsal director at OBV.   

Astrid Sweeney and Moss Kissing, Unhinged (work in progress showing) 

Choreography and performance: Astrid Sweeney 

Live soundscore: Moss Kissing 

Work in Progress: Unhinged, Inspired by the tradition of dancing on unhinged doors, Work in Progress: Unhinged investigates Irish step dance as a sonic practice through instability, feedback, and collective listening. Astrid Sweeney collaborates with sound artist Moss Kissing to reimagine her Irish step dance background through sound, distortion, and shifting ground. 

Astrid Sweeney is an Irish-Danish performer and choreographer based in Brussels. Working across dance, sound, and visual art, her practice explores the body as an archive and a site for world-building, drawing on embodied memory to shape physicalities that move between the familiar and the uncanny. She has collaborated with with Iván Pérez, Tamsyn Russell, Luke Murphy, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Aïcha M’Barek and Damien Jalet 

Moss Kissing’s practice has morphed and changed a lot in the past six years, but a consistent theme has been his interest in personal embodied archives. After seeing the connection between the way folk moves through time and is changed by the living archive of people, moss often reinterprets his own work as well as opens up his process and songs to other artists to join him in this exploration.  

Fiona Quilligan, Signals,  

Choreography Fiona Quilligan 

Dancers: Dominic Harrison, Niamh O’Flannagain, Jiyeong Kim, Mirela Romano  

Fiona Quilligan writes: “I created Signals in the 1990s, inspired by Kandinsky’s paintings and commissioned a violin score by Fergus Johnston. Drawing from Obstinate, Extended, Winter, Reciprocal Accord, and Bright Picture, bodies moved through diagonal trajectories, distilled silences, and interrupted gestures, counterpointed by frenetic movement within a surreal landscape. I am delighted to reimagine the work with Dominic Harrison, Niamh O’Flannagain, Jiyeong Kim, and Mirela Romano, whose energy brings renewed vitality to the piece.” 

Fiona Quilligan is a Dublin-born, award-winning choreographer, founder of Rubato Ballet and danced with Dublin City Ballet. An Aosdána member and Dance Ireland founder, she has created acclaimed works including Crystal Cloud and Ancestor. Her choreography has received the Nijinsky Medal, an AIB Better Ireland Award, and international recognition. 

BBOYALEON  

Solo Choreography and performance by BBOYLEON (Leon Dwyer) 

A powerful solo by BBOYALEON, the first-ever Irish Bboy to qualify in any Olympic qualifier, multiple award winner of Redbull BC, known for his explosive moves and smooth transitions, Leon has made a significant mark on the international breaking scene. 

Partners include Dance Ireland, Project Arts Centre, IFI Irish Film Institute, Dublin City Council, Galway Dance and Millenium, Année européenne des Normands