A collection of dances inspired by Dublin’s canals and surroundings to highlight everyday spaces as creative places through vibrant choreographic commissions by distinctive Dublin based dance artists.

---

Gallery

HIGHLIGHTS

ABOUT THE PROJECT

BENCH is a series of short live performances along the banks of Dublin’s canals – it is a collection of artworks inspired and informed by canals as valued cultural, social, environmental assets in our city.  Curated by David Bolger, these original choreographies capture the idea of a BENCH by water as an everyday piece of public space infrastructure – a place to pause, to rest, to savour one’s surroundings, to contemplate, to connect – and engage the public and local communities with dance in unexpected ways through original short dance works that:

• are brand new, one-person commissions
• are incidental that people ‘happen upon’
• enable the public to engage with the arts as part of their everyday
• are staged in synergy with the environment around them (i.e with low production infrastructure)

BENCH was born from a unique two-year pilot partnership between CoisCéim Dance Theatre and Waterways Ireland. It began in summer 2023 with commissions to Jessie Thompson, Favour Odusola, Sibéal Davitt and Tobi Omoteso. In 2024 the project was awarded the prestigious Business To Arts Kmend Arts Partnership Award.

"Waterways Ireland recognises that the arts have a vital role to play in celebrating and maintaining the long-standing connection of Dublin’s canals to the city and its communities. We are excited to collaborate with the pioneering CoisCéim Dance Theatre to produce a new series of performances along the banks of the canals."

Media

READ | The Irish Times‘s Michael Seaver interviewed the artists during their rehearsals at CoisCéim Studio
LISTEN | Jessie Thompson and David Bolger talk about the inspiration for BENCH with RTÉ Arena‘s Kay Sheehy

Curator David Bolger
Production Manager Seán Dennehy
Production Coordinator Caoimhe Coburn Gray
Graphic Design Alphabet Soup
Waterways Ireland (2023-2024) Louise Dredge & Máirín Ó Cuireáin
Producers Sarah Latty & Bridget Webster

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

TOBI OMOTESO

Sibéal Davitt

Favour Odusola

Jessie Thompson

David Bolger

Waterways Ireland

Waterways Ireland is the cross-border navigational authority responsible for the management, maintenance, development, and promotion of over 1,000kms of inland navigable waterways, principally for recreational purposes. These waterways comprise of: Grand Canal; Royal Canal; Barrow; Shannon, Shannon-Erne; Erne; Ulster Canal and Lower Bann navigations. Waterways Ireland assets contribute approximately €560m in economic, societal, and environmental value annually. In 2021, the waterways estate received 3.2 million visitors.

In Dublin, Waterways Ireland is responsible for the historic Grand and Royal Canals, which have been a source of great inspiration for artists in the city. Through arts programming, engagement and collaboration, we support the development of creative places in Dublin and contribute to making the areas along the Royal and Grand Canals better places to live, work, and visit.

Find out more at www.waterwaysireland.org