Dublin Dance Festival | Winter 2021 Edition
Dates – 2nd – 27th November

The Misunderstanding of Myrrha  – Junk Ensemble – O’Reilly Theatre – Tues 2 & Wed 3 Nov, 7:30pm – €22 full price / €18 conc.
May B – Compagnie Maguy Marin – O’Reilly Theatre – Fri 5 – Sun 7 Nov, 7:30pm – €25 full price / €20 conc.
Dēmos – Liz Roche Company / Crash Ensemble -O’Reilly Theatre – Thurs 11 – Sat 13 Nov, 7:30pm – €25 full price / €20 conc.
Floating on a Dead Sea –  Catherine Young Dance – Backstage Theatre, Longford – Fri 26 & Sat 27 Nov, 8pm

While there was a Dublin Dance Festival this year, it was all very… virtual? To make up for this fact, they’ve decided to have a Winter Edition, which some interesting work from Junk Ensemble (along with visual artist Alice Maher), world-renowned French choreographer Maguy Marin’s landmark piece, May B, Liz Roche and Catherine Young. Part of the festival actually takes place in Longford (Floating on a Dead Sea), but you’ll have to ask them the reason why that is!

Dublin Dance Festival is thrilled to be welcoming audiences back into the theatre with a very special Winter Edition of live dance performances in venues 2nd-27th November 2021. The programme will feature premieres of three long-awaited new commissions from Irish artists together with a performance from an iconic international choreographer.

Dublin Dance Festival is honoured to present May B, the most iconic piece by world-renowned French choreographer Maguy Marin, to Dublin audiences for the first time as part of the Winter 2021 Edition, with performances 5th-7th November at the O’Reilly Theatre. Marin’s globally renowned and powerfully theatrical work is based on the writings of Samuel Beckett, who unexpectedly offered his blessing to the then largely unknown choreographer to adapt his work. Echoing the relentlessness of Beckettian characters, the ten performers appear barely human – an ensemble of lost souls.  At once awkward, pathetic, ridiculous and comic, May B’s figures move in meticulous unison, but with increasingly expressive individuality – a tender gesture or a mischievous smile, bringing each character’s personality to life. Set to music by Franz Schubert and Gavin Bryars, May B features one single line from Beckett’s play Endgame: “Finished, it’s finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished.” The sparse choreography in Marin’s intuitively potent and timeless work is mesmerising – the dancers journeying in stoic defiance of uncertainty towards a destination that will, quite possibly, always elude them.

Award-winning dance innovators Junk Ensemble collaborate with acclaimed visual artist Alice Maher to present the long-awaited premiere of The Misunderstanding of Myrrha with performances at the O’Reilly Theatre 2nd & 3rd November.  This solo dance work is a bold and empowering retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Myrrha, who following a curse by Aphrodite to fall in love with her own father was transformed into a myrrh tree. Combining intricate choreography, text, music and stunning visual design, The Misunderstanding of Myrrha cycles through the trauma of her curse, the acceptance of her fate, and the rebirth of hope as Myrrha’s existence becomes a thing of beauty.

Breathtaking music and innovative design take centre stage alongside sublime choreography in Dēmos from Liz Roche Company and Crash Ensemble. This ambitious new work exploring togetherness and separation will have its much-anticipated premiere 11th-13th November at the O’Reilly Theatre. This moving tapestry of live music and dance explores human connection in a time of shifting states. Part gathering, part concert, and part improvisation, these live performances are the culmination of a collaboration between choreographer Liz Roche and composer David Coonan, developed from a suite of short films shared as part of the Summer 2021 Edition.

The final production in the Winter Edition’s programme, Floating on a Dead Sea from Catherine Young Dance, will offer a rare and immersive glimpse into life in Palestine to audiences at the Backstage Theatre, Longford on 26th & 27th November. With a cast of international dancers and stunning visuals by filmmaker Luca Truffarelli, this profoundly moving performance places us in the footsteps of ordinary Palestinians, allowing us to feel their enduring sense of injustice, urgency and need for action. Originally due to premiere at Dublin Dance Festival in 2020, this new work is inspired by Young’s own experiences of the country and people since first visiting in 2017, and offers a chance to listen more deeply to voices seldom heard.