Contemporary choreographer and traditional Irish dancer Breandán de Gallaí will return to Cavan on 24 and 25 June 2015 to work with professional musicians on a new piece entitled ‘Linger’. As part of this work Breandán will host two open workshops with local dancers led by de Gallaí and Nick O’Connell, providing the Cavan dancers with an opportunity to embody aspects of the work being created. The aspiring dance and musical artists are welcome to observe the creative process daily from 10 am to 4pm.
Breandán who is best known to Cavan audiences as the director of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Fleadh Cheoil 2012 (nominated for a Business to Arts Award) and the Flashmob 2011.
Linger is a contemporary Irish dance piece involving 2 male dancers: Breandán de Gallaí, a mature dancer (45 year old) and Nick O’Connell, a dancer in his prime (30 year old). The work seeks to explore themes such as identity, sexuality, and the aging dancing body, and how our bodies manage tension in these areas. One of Freud’s tenets is that the human is driven towards tension reduction. This investigation will look at how we feel empowered through tension manipulation. While in Cavan the artists will focus on developing the music and the dance collaboratively. The musical soundscape is a central driving force in pushing this theme of ‘tension’. A wonderful example of this is Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominius, 4th movement ‘Cum Dederit’. Breandán says ‘My intention is to use the work we create in Cavan as an anchor to the entire dance piece. Excerpts of the original Vivaldi score will be explored, manipulated and altered by to explore this potent sense of suspension already present in the score. Specially commissioned compositions will also be rehearsed.’ Joining Breandán and Nick in Cavan are musician and composer Zoë Conway, countertenor Óscar Mascareñas and Bassist Joe Csibi amongst others.
Breandán and the artists will return to Cavan with the work-in-progress later in the Summer and would welcome the local dancers and musicians to join them again for this experience.
It is essential that you book your place on this workshop. Please email jgorman@cavancoco.ie call Joanne 049 4378548 with your name, age, contact details and the name of your dance or music instructor as relevant. The workshop will take place at The Backyard, Moynehall from 5pm to 6pm on 24 and 25 June. Please also indicate if you would like to observe the work in progress on both days.
This event is organised by Cavan County Council arts office and supported by The Arts Council. Linger is a partner project with Project Arts, Dance Ireland and Dance Limerick, Firkin Crane.
Linger will be performed in Cavan at the Townhall on the 8 February 2016.