Dublin Dance Festival 2012: Details Announced

It’s the time of year when festival announcements are starting to kick in and Dublin Dance Festival made their announcement yesterday. The festival will take place from May 11-26 across venues in Dublin.

Here’s all you need to know:

Dublin Dance Festival is delighted to announce the programme for 2012, offering audiences a wealth of experiences from the diverse, creative, sensuous and adventurous worlds of contemporary dance. Festival events will appeal to audiences of all ages and tastes in venues from the Abbey Theatre to the streets of Dublin.

Julia Carruthers, new Director of Dublin Dance Festival, says, “My first Festival and Dublin’s 8th brings together a range of work that is sure to provoke new and different responses. There is revolution, comedy, intrigue, a choir, a coffin, clouds, slapstick, invisible objects, virtuoso performers and much more. Dance’s customary international relations miracle gathers together artists from over 17 countries to show audiences in Dublin what’s happening both at home and internationally. We will share dance that can make you feel and imagine more intensely – this is dance revealing what it is to be alive.”

In its 40th anniversary year, the pioneering Trisha Brown Dance Company from New York will be performing at the Abbey Theatre in its Irish premiere. A legendary figure of American modern dance, Trisha Brown has pushed the boundaries of choreography to revolutionise dance. For three nights only, audiences will have the unprecedented opportunity to see both the company’s very latest work and classic repertory – including Set and Reset, an acknowledged modern masterpiece, with driving music by Laurie Anderson and costumes by Robert Rauschenberg.

The opening performance of the festival will be two atmospheric and moving works by artists from Ireland and the UK, Liz Roche and Sarah Dowling. Festival Director Julia Carruthers says, “In this emotionally charged opening programme, busy with exceptionally beautiful dancing, our responses to ourselves, to others and to the other worldly are explored.”

The Festival will also offer Dublin audiences a sense of what Europe is watching, with a programme of new work and significant European choreographic personalities, with artists from France, Norway, Brussels, Germany, Latvia, Russia, and the UK – including “the Christopher Columbus of dance” Jonathan Burrows, and two artists from the UK exploring their Asian heritage. And as part of the festival’s exploration of encounters between dance and technology, Vienna-based Klaus Obermaier will be presenting the spectacular, illusion-packed Apparition.

The programme will also feature a number of Irish artists. junk ensemble (winners of Best Fringe Production 2011) will premiere The Falling Song, Brokentalkers will revive their urgent work about institutionalised child abuse The Blue Boy for the festival, and there will be sharings of The Burning House, a work-in-progress reflecting the life and imagination of Patrick Pearse. Re-Presenting Ireland, a regular festival fixture, will showcase work by Catherine Young, Maria Nilsson-Waller, John Scott/IMDT, Iseli-Chiodi Dance Company, 50% Male Experimental Theatre and Philip Connaughton.

Audiences of all ages will find something to excite them during the Festival. Spanish company Aracaladanza, renowned for their stylish work for children, will show the colourful, imaginative and action-packed Nubes (Clouds). Divya Kasturi will be presenting the sights and sounds of classical Indian dance in a gorgeous encounter for all the family. And during the festival there will be some guerrilla dance action astir on Grafton Street, culminating in a spectacular street celebration of dance on May 20, courtesy of Luca Silvestrini’s company Protein. They will be joined by scores of musicians and local dancers, with everyone welcome to learn the moves and join in the show.

For film buffs, there will be a Sunday afternoon of Dance on Film shorts in collaboration with the Irish Film Institute.

For those interested in music, there will be a chance to hear works by artists ranging from Laurie Anderson to Piccolo Lasso, with styles varying from Irish Trad to classical music from Southern India to the electronic innovations of Klaus Obermaier.

TO BOOK FOR DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL 2012

LIMITED EARLY BIRD TICKETS available online from March 22 until April 1 only

ONLINE from March 22

www.dublindancefestival.ie

BY PHONE from April 2

Tel: + 353 1 672 8815 Lines open Monday to Friday 10am–6pm

IN PERSON from May 1

Dublin Dance Festival Box Office @ Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Open Monday to Saturday 10am–6pm, Sunday 12noon–3pm

Dublin Dance Festival acknowledges the support of its core funders:

The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and Dublin City Council;

and of its media partners:

The Irish Times, RTÉ lyric fm, SkyArts, Entertainment.ie and RTÉ Dance on the Box.

Additional support has been received from:

Aerowaves, Arts Technology Research Lab, Austrian Embassy in Ireland, British Council, Culture Ireland, Dance Ireland, Embassy of France in Ireland, Embassy of Latvia in Ireland, Embassy of the United States of America in Ireland, E-Motional Bodies & Cities, Goethe-Institut Irland, Instituto Cervantes Dublin, Institut Français, Irish Festival Co-Production Network, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dublin, Temple Bar Cultural Trust.

For further information about the Dublin Dance Festival please contact:

E: info@dublindancefestival.ie T: + 353 1 679 0524 W: www.dublindancefestival.ie