The Peace Process

Creators: Flora Fauna Project (Maria Nilsson Waller & Stace Gill)

Performers: Sara Ezzell, Marcia Liu, Elin Hedin, Anne Rowe, Stace Gill and Maria Nilsson Waller

Music/Sound Design: The Sei

Music Producer: Ross Dowling

Creative Team: Matt Burke, Archer Bradshaw, Jacek Rzypka, Barbara Klimecka and Hermann Badowski (Unique Interactive). Hanna Rosenblom and Joakim Holmqvist (Tobedesigned.io)

Maria Nilsson Waller is a dance artist, choreographer, teacher and designer. She trained at the Royal Swedish Ballet school, ECSD Rosella Hightower, Cannes and Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. She has been working freelance across Europe since 2004, and is since 2009 based in Ireland. In 2018 she founded multidisciplinary dance company and production house Flora Fauna Project together with Irish composer and videoartist Stace Gill/The Sei. Over the past 15 years her work has been presented at a number of venues in France, Sweden, U.K and Ireland, through a.o Dublin Dance Festival, Estrad Norr and Cannes Jeune Ballet. Via Flora Fauna Project she produced 4 independent international tours between 2022-2025. Maria has received multiple commissions from festivals, councils and producing theatres, and has created work for both professional dancers and non-professional communities. As a performer Maria has worked for a.o Gina Moxley, Rob Heaslip, ANU productions, Liv O Donoghue, Cahoots NI and Bo Arenander. She regularly collaborates with artists from other disciplines such as musicians, photographers, theatre and filmmakers in capacity as dramaturg, movement adviser and visual designer. She also composes and design for her own work. Maria teaches regular professional class at Dance Ireland and Danscentrum Sweden and is often hired as a guest teacher. She has also completed over 300 workshops in contemporary dance for primary schools in Ireland and Sweden. She was elected Hoffnungsträgerin 2015 by Tanzmagazin, and was a Dance Ireland Associate Artist 2013/2014. She received the prestigious HATCH residency by Dance Ireland 2017, as well as Riksteaterns Production Residency, 2018 for Flora Fauna Project. She was Dance Artist in Residency at D-Light Studios between 2019-2022 and is a former board member of Dance Ireland. Maria is currently on the board of Danscentrum Norr, Sweden.

Sara Ezzell is an American-Cypriot movement artist, choreographer, and director. From 2014- 2019, she danced with the Saint Petersburg Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet, the Bundesjugendballett (BJB) and the Hamburg Ballet. During this time she also premiered her first choreographic works, including “Just Like a Woman,” which has been performed throughout Europe by the BJB and was also selected by John Neumeier to be performed in the Nijinsky Gala, 2018. Alongside dancing principal roles with the Hamburg Ballet, in 2019 John Neumeier sent her to represent the Hamburg Ballet at the prestigious 2019 Erik Bruhn Prize, where she and her partner Matias Oberlin’s performance of Kristian Lever’s “An Intimate Distance) won Best Contemporary Choreography. She has been a freelance artist since 2020, creating new work in collaboration with interdisciplinary teams and also initiating socio-kultur projects. Her recent work in co-creation with musicians includes her choreographic creation and performance of the “Feuervogel” in collaboration with the Berlin Philharmonic (2021), her choreographic creation and performance of “Pygmalion 4.0” with the orchestra “La Festa Musicale”(2021), and her choreographic creation and performance “.M”, in collaboration with classical pianist Daniel Bucurescu and composer Xiao Fu (2023). Her approach prioritizes creating productions with a humanistic purpose through innovative, inclusive creative practice. Her latest initiative as director, choreographer, and dancer, “Ceremonia”, in collaboration with conductor Anna-Sophie Brüning, conceived an original performance from the oral history accounts of residents of an elderly care home- performed by professional dancers, musicians, children, and the elderly (2023). Her 2024 season includes dancing/choreographing in a new collaborative children’s production with the Berlin Philharmonic, choreographing for and dancing within the production “Galathea Upload” at Beethovenfest Bonn, and initiating a premiere in Hannover collaborating with intercultural Istanbul-based music ensemble “Seyyah”. In Ireland, she has has offered ballet training for dance professionals at Dance Ireland (2021), taught contact improvisation and performed new work at Flow Festival in West Cork (2022), and has been thrilled to take part in the Flora Fauna productions of “Bluebells” (2021), and “Merry.Go.Round” (2022).

Stace Gill is an interdisciplinary sound and music artist working and collaborating professionally for the last 16 years throughout Ireland and Sweden.  In 2017 she co-founded Flora Fauna Project interdisciplinary dance company with Choreographer Maria Nilsson Waller, and since then their collaboration has produced multiple dance productions with professional Dancers and a diverse range of community groups in Ireland and Sweden; thanks to the Irish and Swedish Arts Councils and many supporting partners.  She is the primary Music director and composer for Flora Fauna Dance productions and her music scores have featured on multiple TV productions including Day of the Jackal 2024 and BBC/HULU ‘Normal People’ 2021.  In 2024 FFP were chosen to showcase their work and company at Tanzmesse (Germany) and CINARS (Canada). In 2025 FFP will premier their new production ‘The Peace Process’.  She has been awarded residencies throughout Ireland and Europe since 2017 with Dance Ireland, Tipperary Dance Platform, Trois CL Luxembourg, Dans i Orebro, Konstnärsnämnden, Riksteatern and Estrad Norr.

Marcia Liu 劉曼詩 is a Brussels-based dance artist from Hong Kong working across performance, choreography, improvisation, and somatic practices. A graduate of HKAPA and P.A.R.T.S., with a Master’s in Philosophy from KU Leuven, her work weaves contemporary dance with internal arts, qigong, fascia research, philosophical twist and ecological concern.   Marcia has performed and collaborated across Europe and Asia with Flora & Fauna Project, It is part of an ensemble, Sandman, amongst others, in contexts ranging from theaters and museums to forests and urban sites. Her current research explores movement as pathway for connection, resilience, and embodied care.   She is a practitioner in Yan Shou Gong (The Art of Longetivity) and has completed a certificate in Perception Pedagogy: Fascia & Dance at BodyMind Academy. She has received support from institutions including VGC Brussels, i-Portunus, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike), and Vlaamse Gemeenschap.   She has been artist-in-residence at WorkspaceBrussels, CC Berchem, Garage29, Nelimarkka Museum, and the Cable Factory in Helsinki, among others. Marcia also teaches and facilitates workshops, working with artists, students, and communities. She sees her role as a connector—of bodies, ideas, spaces, and energies—through attentive, improvisational, and sustainable practices of movement.

Anne Rowe is a Dance Artist from Dublin. She is primarily interested in the expansiveness of dance, both as an independent art form and from an interdisciplinary perspective. She aims to approach movement and performance with a sense of curiosity and as a constant student of her craft. Anne has had many opportunities in her early years as a performer, despite starting at the late age of fourteen. She has been working on projects both in Ireland and Spain, while simultaneously graduating with a Ba(Hons) in Contemporary dance at the Institute of the Arts Barcelona. She has been a company member in Simone O’Toole’s ‘SOTO Collective’ for the past three years and has worked on creations and research residencies with her, including ‘Terra Femina’ in 2023. Anne also began working with Flora Fauna Project as an apprentice on their creation ‘The Peace Process’ in 2024 and is continually working on this piece with them as a company member. As an aspiring choreographer, Anne has been working on her own creations and artistic collaborations in Barcelona. She has formed a choreographic duet with Carla Adan Cerezuela and together they have been showcasing their pieces at festivals and open stage nights. They performed their piece ‘Limbotongue’ at Freezone Open Stage Night and a new creation, ‘Buit Ple D’absencia’ at Vaive Dance Festival in Catalonia. Anne hopes to continue to grow as a performer and creator through projects and different opportunities. Last year she attended Peeping Tom’s ‘Kitchen’, a week long intensive with the company. She hopes to find more spaces like this that will help her explore dance in all its different layers. She will always keep her curiosity at the forefront of her career and aspires to find experiences that will fulfil her as an artist and push her boundaries. Hopefully this journey will immerse her in the creative web that is dance and art.

Music/sound Producer and LIPA Scholarship awardee – The Sei. TALOS, Ólafur Arnalds, Atli Örvarsson, BellX1, Dave Geraghty, James Vincent McMorrow.

Matt Burke is a lighting designer for theatre and dance. Recently he has designed for: The Abbey Theatre “Ironbound” at Dublin Theatre Festival 2023; CoisCéim Dance Theatre “Go To Blazes” as part of Ulysses 2.2; TU Dublin Conservatoire “The Asylum Workshop” by Colin Murphy; Mufutau Yusuf “ÒWE”. He has worked extensively with The National Irish Language Theatre, An Taibhdhearc, at the Galway International Arts Festival from 2013 to 2018. Upcoming Work: “IMPASSE” by Mufutau Yusuf, premiering at Dublin Dance Festival 2024. In 2019 he graduated with an MFA in Lighting design from The Lir Academy, Trinity College Dublin. Awarded the Arts Council Agility Award twice – in 2021 to support research and developing artistic process, and in 2023 with mentorship from eminent UK lighting designer Paule Constable.

Jacek Rzepka is an architect, artist and designer specialising in advanced technology design globally for museum and gallery exhibitions, combining over 20 years’ experience as an architect, designer, immersive and exhibition design together with skills in software design and development. Jacek is the founder and leader of the design team of Unique Interactive. He has managed projects, designs, media productions, and interactive spatial installations for museums and exhibition centers, such as Expo 2020 in Dubai for Senegal Pavilion, Ireland House, Tokyo and Museum of Papermaking in Silesia.

Archer’s Experience includes lighting designer: Strange Days, Director: Tracy Ryan, LX Crew: Soft Nights, (Soft Productions) Director: Natasha Duffy. Technical Manager & Workshop Facilitator: Making Waves, The Whale Theatre. House Technician: Mermaid Arts Centre. LX, Relight Programmer and Operator: A House Like Fire, Director: Michelle Read. Technical Crew: Various Productions, Gaiety Theatre. Technical Crew: Yes and Yes (Liz Roche Company). Technical Crew: Accents Director: Claire O’Riley.

Barbara Klimecka is an artist and designer whose work bridges art history, interior design, and a deep passion for painting and craft. Her practice moves between functional design and conceptual exploration, with a strong focus on form, texture, and natural materials. She creates oil paintings and spatial objects where handwork and material sensibility play a central role, while remaining open to experimenting with different techniques and exploring new directions in art and design.

Herman Badowski is a lead programmer and digital media specialist with over 15 years’ experience in interactive design, immersive technologies, and cultural projects worldwide. He creates responsive digital environments and sensor-based applications, and is deeply involved in scientific research, collaborating with leading international universities to develop programming tools and software solutions that support innovative research.

The Irish Arts Council.