Funded by an Arts Council of Ireland IRIS Award
From July 2022

CHOREOGRAPHY CONNECTS is an important new venture that unites CoisCéim with two European dance trailblazers – OperaEstate/CSC, (Comune di Bassano, Italy) and Le Gymnase CDCN (France) – in a project that explores the strategic alliance between choreography, nature and care.

An artist-led, residency initiative funded by Arts Council Ireland, it brings together the following distinctive, socially engaged dance artists: Vittoria Caneva (Italy), Marion Carriau (France), Justine Cooper (Ireland), Chiara Frigo (Italy), Aoife McAtamney (Ireland) and Betty Tchomanga (France) with one of Europe’s leading dramaturgs, Monica Gillette, to explore fresh ways to connect people and increase access to the artform.

Coming Up

16 – 28 OCTOBER 2023 | Residency at OperaEstate/CSC, Bassano – Aoife McAtamney, Irish dance artist.

23 OCTOBER – 4 NOVEMBER | Residency at CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Dublin – Chiara Frigo, Italian dance artist.

8 – 19 JANUARY 2024 | Residency at CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Dublin – Betty Tchomanga, French dance artist.

18 – 29 MARCH 2024 | Residency at Le Gymnase CDCN, Roubaix – Aoife McAtamney, Irish dance artist.

2 – 12 JUNE 2024 | Residency at Le Gymnase CDCN, Roubaix – Justine Cooper, Irish dance artist.

PROJECT ARTISTS

FROM THE RESIDENCIES

“Welcoming Choreography Connects artists during our festival Le Grand Bain allows these artists to combine individual research and immersion in the choreographic landscape of our region. On the side of Le Gymnase, it is to gather over a long time a testimony elaborated from a look at both the new and the expert. It also means allowing artists in our territory new gateways and opportunities for experimentation and establishing conversations with our partners outside of production and dissemination issues”
– Laurent Mehuest, Le Gymnase CDCN

“…. enabled me to see where my practice is at the moment – where it is going and how I might remove barriers in the development of my unique choreographic fingerprint…”
– Resident Artist

“…. provided the tracks on the journey to owning my own care in terms of sustainable practice…”
– Resident Artist
“Through Choreography Connects we are able to welcome two Irish artists who very rarely would reach our territory and our communities, and build with them an international artistic community and shared path of research and exchange of dance practices. Being part of a project that invests in research and the development of joint and shared knowledge, allows us to become more responsive to the dynamic changes in the realities in which we work and live. It has also been an opportunity for artists and organisations to create a new international network of support and knowledge sharing together that focuses on the important topics of environment and community.”
– Roberto Casarotto & Greta Pieropan, OperaEstate / Comune di Bassano

“…taking distance from my ecosystem and putting myself in a state of unbalance – a place to research, to be open to see things, and let things be revealed…

… I feel that the environment in which we live or develop our artistic work really affects our questions, our inspirations and for sure for me this is a place that nourishes my thoughts…”
– Resident Artist

“…the possibility to see shows every night makes this residency really special because the festival is spread all over the region and in different venues so it is really an opportunity to meet people and new artists…”
– Resident Artist
“I went very deep with tough questions during this residency. I experienced the void, the inside emptiness.. but I decided to trust the process, to take the wave and to welcome my emotions. I let the « flow flow » and was able to make concrete connections… and out of the fog, find a constellation.”
– Resident Artist

“The outdoor conditions of the residency forced me to shift and find my rebound. I had to tame my new environment, to smell it, to make sense of it…. to let my body become more and more liberated… free to go to new places, where my brain was not judging me anymore.”
– Resident Artist

“Choreography Connects has an energy field – I am resisting the urge and habit to research my ongoing projects at each gathering so that I can stay open to the process of shared community and the unknown…”
– Resident Artist

PROJECT HISTORY

14 – 16 JULY 2023 | Bassano del Grappa – a two day series of facilitated workshops with dramaturg Monica Gillette.  
At this year’s Gathering, we were also thrilled to be joined by photographer Anna Kushnirenko and local artist, Sara Lando who will create a series of works to capture the energy of the weekend – here’s a wee flavour of the Gathering through her visual notes while we wait for the artworks to mature.

Sara Lando (Marostica, 1978) lives and works in Bassano del Grappa. Her work explores identity, the boundaries between what is real and what is imagined, and how memory deteriorates and remodels with the passage of time. She uses mixed techniques including photography, illustration, collage and three-dimensional and textural elements. She is interested in collaboration with non-human artistic partners and the concept of diffuse authorship. The techniques she uses stem from a playful curiosity and direct interaction with the object and explore the degradation of the image and the concept of creation as a consequence of the physical destruction of an object.

Anna Kushnirenko is a dance and photography artist from Ukraine. As a dancer started her way in the private contemporary dance school and then developed skills accessing workshops, dance festivals and camps, co-creating and being part of dance performances with an emphasis on contemporary dance and improvisation, has experienced Iyengar yoga for 4 years. Her movement practice is built around dance improvisation and different movement games, with the aim to create connection to space and people. As a photographer, she has mainly worked with people (experience in posing doesn’t matter), making documentation for events and private portrait shootings. She gives attention to the details, that are part of big complex things. She’s inspired by life’s unique moments and nostalgia.

3 – 13 JULY 2023 | Residency at OperaEstate/CSC, Bassano – Justine Cooper, Irish dance artist
Justine’s residency took the form of a solo pilgrimage that evolved into a 3-strand weave, exploring foraged visual choreography and archetypal wisdom from plants in the beautiful surrounds of Bassano to address anxiety through donated gestures of care. Supported by the other project artists and a local herbalist, she shared an improvised Qi Gong-enriched practice with the deeply inspiring participants of the local Dance Well class. The 10-day experience culminated with the second collective facilitated gathering of Choreography Connects artists, igniting further questions and discoveries in her endeavour to create a choreographic quilt of care.

15 – 25 MAY 2023 | Residency at CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Dublin – Marion Carriau, French dance artist (supported by Dublin Dance Festival)
Marion’s residency in Dublin took place almost exclusively outdoors – on the beach – with the Irish weather being unusually kind. The intensity of the solitary experience was balanced with a number of encounters with the Irish project artists’ and workshops/performances at Dublin Dance Festival.

20 – 31 MARCH 2023 | Residency at Le Gymnase CDCN, Roubaix – Chiara Frigo, Italian dance artist.
The first French residency took place in tandem with Le Gymnase’s signature festival “Le Grand Bain” giving an opportunity for established Italian artist, Chiara Frigo to marry solitary creative explorations with vibrant conversations with other artists and the public at the festival performances and events around the region.

21 NOVEMBER – 3 DECEMBER 2022 | Inaugural Residency at CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Dublin – Vittoria Caneva, Italian dance artist.
To connect with Vittoria’s interest in working with older communities and people with Parkinson’s this residency included encounters with Olwyn Lyons, leader of the Dance for Parkinson’s class at Dance Ireland and Mia Di Chiaro at CoisCéim Broadreach’s Weekly Wednesday class at the Carmelite Community Centre, as well as creative exploration on and offsite with Irish project artists Justine Cooper and Aoife McAtamney. It culminated with an invited sharing on 2 December.