Dance is back – in person, on stage. That’s the maxim for this year’s Dublin Dance Festival, which kicked off this week. The festival features four striking performances shown throughout the month of November, and is a refreshing change from the virtual methods of performance that artists were forced to adopt for the last 20 months.
The festival began on November 2nd with the premiere of The Misunderstanding of Myrrha in the O’Reilly Theatre, a retelling of a Greek myth in the form of a solo dance piece performed by Julie Koenig. For this performance, award-winning Junk Ensemble collaborated with visual artist Alice Maher to tell the controversial story of Myrrha, who after being cursed by Aphrodite, is transformed into a myrrh tree.
The second show is May B, a piece by French choreographer Maguy Marin, which is based on Samuel Beckett’s writings. Running from November 5th to 7th again at the O’Reilly Theatre, tickets are still available to purchase through the festival website. The show features the faces of the 10 performers plastered in clay, moving in repetitive shuffles, their voices rhythmic sighs rather than words. What seems to be a group moving as one stoic entity soon shows unexpected signs of individuality. Tickets are priced at €25 and can be purchased from the festival website.
From November 11th to 13th, the acclaimed Liz Roche Company will present the premiere of Dēmos in collaboration with Crash Ensemble and composer David Coonan. The piece explores the topic of human connection and bringing people together. A mix of recorded elements and live performance with eight dancers will present the dynamic connections between space, music and the crowd. Tickets are priced at €25 and can be purchased from the festival website.
Finally, the festival will show Floating on a Dead Sea by Catherine Young Dance, which gives us insight into life in Palestine on November 26th and 27th at the Backstage Theatre in Longford (tickets for the Saturday performance will include a complimentary bus to Longford and back). Using a mixture of dance, visuals by Luca Truffarelli, music and text, it tries to capture one of the most complex conflicts in the world while also zooming in on everyday life in the region, encouraging us to listen more closely to voices that have often been left unheard. Tickets are priced at €16 and can be purchased from the festival website.
