PERFORMING MEMORY
A Perform Europe Project
An exploration of memory, movement, and stillness
“In this project, you will be driven by your imagination. Imagination will help your body find and determine the direction of movement." - Sasha Kurmaz
Inspired by the powerful themes of UNTITLED by Sasha Kurmaz, you are invited to explore moments of solace and remembrance, share your personal and collective stories, create meaningful choreography, and perform with other people from across Dublin.
TASTER WORKSHOP | FIND OUT WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT
People aged 18+ with dance and movement experience are welcome to take part in FREE taster sessions on 07 June to delve deeper and discover more about choreographer Simone O’Toole’s movement practice.
WHEN 07 June 2025 - times to be confirmed (1.5 - 2 hours)
WHERE CoisCéim Studio, 42 Fairview Strand
Cost FREE
BOOKING ESSENTIAL. SECURE YOUR PLACE NOW by emailing Inna@coisceim.com
ABOUT THE PROJECT
PERFORMING MEMORY | 04 AUGUST TO 21 SEPTEMBER 2025
PERFORMING MEMORY is a creative dance project that brings together CoisCéim Broadreach with Proto Produkciia Agency (Ukraine) and Arte Sella in Italy. Funded through Perform Europe, it is rooted in the artistic vision of Ukrainian visual artist Sasha Kurmaz and through a collaboration with Irish choreographer Simone O’Toole will explore and localise his work UNTITLED in Dublin.
In this 7 week-long project you are invited to join Simone in an exploration of memory, movement, and stillness – to question how the body holds our stories and emotions, and how transformation can begin from within. Using imagery, like a candle melting from the crown down, explore how softness and release can shift the way we move and feel.
“This is more than dancing. It’s a space to connect to ourselves, to each other, and to the deeper narratives we carry. Each week, we’ll move, reflect, and challenge our creative and technical edges in a supportive environment.
We’ll also draw from the Irish tradition of keening - a physical and vocal expression of grief - as a way to explore the body’s response to loss, memory, and collective resilience. And to find out how we, as Irish people, find solace in communal grief, and embody empathy and transformation through dance.” - Simone O’Toole
If YOU are ready to move with intention and curiosity, this project could be for you - book now for the taster session to find out more.
TASTER SESSIONS
WHEN 07 June 2025 - times to be confirmed (1.5- 2 hours)
WHERE CoisCéim Studio
FREE
BOOKING REQUIRED Contact Inna@coisceim.com for details and to sign up for the taster sessions.
PRACTICE SESSIONS
start 4 August 2025 & the project runs for 7 weeks
WHEN Tuesday + Thursday Evenings + occasional Saturdays in September
WHERE CoisCéim Studio
PROJECT FEES PAY WHAT YOU CAN | Recommended Price €175
CULMINATES with 6 daytime performances from Friday 19 - Sunday 21 September
PAY WHAT YOU CAN OPTIONS! €0* - €99 - €175 - €225 - €299
*Please note that for the free pricing option a refundable deposit system will be in operation, where the deposit will be refunded ahead of the final performance.
Credits
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
PARTNERS
Perform Europe
Perform Europe, supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, is a funding scheme for the European performing arts sector. Through its Open Call, it aims to facilitate international networking and supports inclusive, diverse, and green partnerships that wish to tour across the 40 Creative Europe countries. Perform Europe is implemented by a consortium of six organisations: IETM – International network for contemporary performing arts, European Festivals Association (EFA), Circostrada, European Dance Development Network, Pearle * – Live Performance Europe and IDEA Consult.
Proto Produkciia Agency
Proto produkciia agency specializes in the implementation of bold artistic and educational ideas. We work with talented educators and independent artists. In 2022 established Antonin Artaud Fellowship - a long-term initiative aiming to invigorate the performing arts sector in Ukraine. For to nurture emerging artists and cultural managers, specializing in the realm of performing arts, by encouraging experimental and chamber works that have potential to evolve into impactful larger-scale projects.
Arte Sella – the Contemporary Mountain
For more than thirty years Arte Sella has been synonymous with art in nature, a unique creative workshop in Italy and in the world, where art has woven a continuous dialogue with the surprising nature of the Val di Sella, a side valley of the Valsugana, in Trentino. Hundreds of international artists have alternated over time, invited to interpret the spirit of the place and to return to look at
the works of art in continuous transformation. The works created by these artists are characterized by the ability to preserve their own recognizable but not alien physiognomy, for a different arrangement with respect to time, which is no longer the rectilinear and conventional history of art, but, perishable, according to the natural mutations of the seasons Vittorio Fagone in 2009.
Since its foundation in 1986, Arte Sella has evolved by interpreting its role as a creative forge listening to nature and placing itself as a powerful tool initially available to a small Alpine community, later to a much wider world, to imagine possible future scenarios and possible dynamics of the man-nature relationship. In the aftermath of the Chernobyl tragedy the need to find a way to restore a new balance with nature was immediately born: at Arte Sella this need has declined, over the course of thirty-five years, through the gaze and vision of more than three hundred artists who, having abandoned the role of absolute protagonists of the creative act, have joined nature, their ally in the creation and transformation of the work. The mutation of Arte Sella's works is continuous, constant and subject to weather conditions and the passing of the seasons.
Arte Sella has thus become an open-air museum that includes a considerable portion of the Val di Sella. There are two routes that can be visited throughout the year, with different times that change depending on the natural variation of the daylight hours. The first route begins at Villa Strobele, one of the many historic houses in the valley, birthplace of Arte Sella and the first exhibitions. With the project of the Arte Sella Architettura which started in 2017, Villa Strobele has become a fundamental place for reflection on the question of living and landscape and therefore, ultimately, to what relationship man and humanity, may have in the future with the places where they settle, and which are crossed by a continuous process of change. Architects such as Kengo Kuma, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Michele de Lucchi.
From Villa Strobele, the Montura path, enriched by a series of benches designed by artists and designers such as Alberto Meda, Aldo Cibic, Matteo Poli and Giulio Iacchetti, encourages visitors to admire the peculiarities of the landscape of the valley. At the end of the route the Malga Costa Area welcomes the visitors. The building of the Malga once dedicated to the mountain pasture, is now an exhibition hall and a meeting place. Around it unfolds an exhibition area that contemplates some of the most monumental works known to the public, such as the Tree Cathedral by Giuliano Mauri, Third Paradise – The Trench of Peace by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Symbiosis by Edoardo Tresoldi, Common Root by Henrique Oliveira, Mountain Trebucco by Arne Quinze , Liquid Landscape by Daan Roosegaarde, Physis by Arcangelo Sassolino, fonda.menti by ivan, Proserpina #A_S4 by Quayola and Sabìr by Velasco Vitali.
Over time at Arte Sella, art in nature, music, dance, photography, poetry and literature have found a place for research and common reflection. Their vision, together with that of the artists who will cross Arte Sella with an increasingly interdisciplinary look, will continue to investigate the complexity of the contemporaneity in which we are immersed.
co-produced with
proto produkciia agency (Ukraine) and arte sella (italy)
Led by Proto Produkciia Agency, PERFORMING MEMORY co-creates and presents local performances of Ukrainian artists ‘Lost Movement’ by Nana Biakova and ‘UNTITLED’ by Sasha Kurmaz in Ukraine, Italy, and Ireland. Ukrainian artists collaborate remotely with local performers, fostering intercultural dialogue on remembering, commemoration, and movement. The project is initiated by a consortium of partners led by Proto Produkciia from Ukraine, and including Arte Sella from Italy and CoisCéim from Ireland.
Two Ukrainian works will be presented in their local context . Following this, the works will be virtually explored and reinterpreted in Italy and Ireland. Ukrainian artists will engage in online discussions with local artists from two countries. These discussions will focus on the core concepts, allowing for reinterpretation of and adaptation to the specific cultural contexts of Italy and Ireland.
The final performances will showcase the artistic exchange and will happen without the physical presence of Ukrainian artists. This innovative approach eliminates travel, significantly reducing the project’s carbon footprint while increasing accessibility to impactful performances across Europe. The project redefines international collaboration by prioritising local artist integration and developing a replicable model for future artistic exchange.
project funding
PERFORMING MEMORY is one of 42 performing arts partnerships to receive funding from the Perform Europe Open Call
Perform Europe received 435 proposals from all eligible countries, in response to the Open Call. Projects were selected by 17 expert evaluators for their innovative touring ideas, while balance was ensured in terms of geography, performing arts disciplines, and the call’s priorities. Each partnership project will receive up to EUR 60 000 in funding to bring their touring projects to life. Notably, 13 % of the total fund will be allocated to projects supporting the Ukrainian performing arts sector.
From July 2024 to November 2025, these 42 partnerships involving no less than 196 partners, will tour 63 performing arts works across all 40 Creative Europe countries. It is remarkable to note that performing arts professionals and organisations, from ALL of the Creative Europe countries are represented in the selection. They will test innovative ideas and models for touring, all with one common goal: to redefine how the performing arts can reach audiences in a greener, more inclusive, and more diverse way.
