Aoife McAtamney
Irish Dance Artist
28 March – 8 April 2024
Residency at Le Gymnase CDCN, Roubaix
Aoife’s reflections in writing following 2 weeks at Le Gymanse CDCN:
I went to Roubaix coming out of winter, it was for me the seasonal shift and two weeks of movement in a studio that I so badly needed. On my return to Ireland I was going to be filming my first multi-disciplinary film, blending choreography, image and music, so I set a task of organising all the chorographic material and costume while in Roubaix, leaving space for surprises and inspiration for my new creation next year.
When I arrived in Roubaix I had no battery in my phone when I was trying to find the apartment. The apartment with the roof, I danced on most mornings. This ‘out of batter’ was much like my feeling. I arrived tired. It has been a full winter and with my family changing. Surprising myself with (near) fluent French coming out of my mouth, I was revived by the studio space, the performances I was seeing, the old friends I met. Two performances that will stay with me, Alessandro Scaroni from Italy and Via Katlehong from South Africa. Both shows were humble and electric, sweaty and humane.
The town Roubaix was small enough for me to eat out each night, in regular places, beginning to know my way around. Each day I worked and worked in the studio. Finding the parents in my body, the mother father child energy. Finding the drums. At the end of my time I did a studio showing and found another character to my film, the narrator. I left revived, my dancing body in shape and inspired by the performances I had seen. I was recharged.
16 – 28 October 2023
Residency at Bassano del Grappa
Aoife’s residency in Bassano in the Autumn of 2023 left her with the following notes:
I arrived and I didn’t leave, yet. Until Now. As I look back to the river fondly and cross the bridge of memory. Our Orange Pale Stone Fingertips. Remember the studio, with the black board & fabric, I lay naked rinsing out a multitude of positions, giddy trying to find the truest form. Remember you held me there, I cried about shame. The thinking and chatting to the mountain on how to help with the Blue of Giotto telling you to allow the world to see the joy. I ate so many sandwiches & drank so much coffee. Sweating in the space. Moving in the dance, of the structure of the dance and the layers smiled by Monica. Remember the zooms to our new team. Of friends and new friends. We spoke about female wounds, balms, dogs and cars exploding with kinetic energy. The Hours. Persona too. Her. The showing at the end of the two weeks and Greta cried about being altered.
Gallery
Le Gymnase CDCN, Roubaix
Opera Estate/CSC, Bassano
Partners
OperaEstate/CSC (Comune di Bassano del Grappa)
Comune di Bassano del Grappa is an Italian public body, dedicated to the development of culture and contemporary performing arts in the Veneto Region.
Part of the Comune di Bassano del Grappa are Centro per la Scena Contemporanea, a dance house, and Operaestate Festival Veneto, a multidisciplinary festival, their activities and objectives are aimed at supporting artistic development, audience engagement, cultural active participation of citizens in community projects, artistic productions, promotion of artistic mobility, promotion of initiatives of cultural inclusion, presentation of events and performances, qualification of the territory and its heritage with cultural initiatives.
It is member of Aerowaves and European Dancehouse Network and recipient of several grants supported by the Creative Europe and Erasmus+ programmes of the EU. www.operaestate.it
Le Gymnase CDCN
Founded in 1983, Le Gymnase National Centre of Choreographic Development (CDCN) has been working for almost 40 years supporting the choreographic sector and establishing networks in the Lille area and both regionally and nationally. At the heart of Le Gymnase CDCN’s mission is helping and supporting choreographic artists and forging a relationship between choreographic creation and audiences. On the basis of this, there are three strands to its activities:
• supporting creation and research structured around welcoming artists at work (in research and
creative residences), helping with production and company structures
• dissemination centred on two festivals: Le Grand Bain, an immersion in the diversity of the
choreographic landscape, and Les Petits Pas, a pioneering dance festival aimed at young
audiences
• education (with regular lessons, courses and masterclasses) mediation and raising awareness,
organised around opportunities for encounters and reflection as well as numerous activities in
schools and associations.
Located in the priority area “Quartier Intercommunal Roubaix-Tourcoing – Blanc Seau – Croix Bas Saint Pierre”, the CDCN’s home since 2003 is an old gymnasium built in 1876. Le Gymnase is active in its local area, but also wants to be more closely involved with people living in the Hauts-de-France region. With a population of just under one hundred thousand, Roubaix, the third largest commune in Hauts-de-France by population, is famous for its architectural heritage as well as for its economic expansion, its rich web of associations and its pioneering social activities (e.g. inter-professional housing committee, residents’ involvement, and its social and solidarity-based economy). Facing numerous difficulties, more than three quarters of the population of the city of Roubaix live in a priority area in terms of municipal policies. Roubaix is one of France’s poorest communes, but also one of France’s youngest population.
Starting from this vivid reality but also from the potential the city offers, since it relocated to Roubaix Le Gymnase CDCN has adopted new approaches to respond to the area’s needs and make art and culture accessible to the people who live there. To achieve this, Le Gymnase has launched projects that allow encounters between dance and the public, specifically in health clinics and social organisations,associations and educational institutions from nurseries to universities. It supports and works alongside the disadvantaged in priority areas, people cut off from cultural offers, and in cooperation with local actors and support structures (in the areas of social care, health and education). www.gymnase-cdcn.com
Boarding Bass Plus Dance
Boarding Pass Plus Dance, supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture, is a project that includes numerous actions and activities for the internationalization of the careers of dance artists and professionals, as well as the enhancement of relationships and collaborations between Italian and foreign partners, and the dissemination on the territory of the skills acquired and of the projects developed. The project leader is Operaestate/CSC of Bassano del Grappa, in partnership with the Cultural Association AREA06/Short Theatre, Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo/Lavanderia a Vapore, Oxa srl/Base Milano, Santarcangelo dei Teatri, and many international partners.
The fourth edition of Boarding Pass Plus Dance identifies the need to support sustainable creation: responding to the need to share relationship formats and transnational collaboration that embrace the theme of sustainability also with respect to the life span of the artistic processes and the creations generated, and in the travelling, when possible. The project and its actions, shared among all the partners, therefore intend to explore the theme of sustainability connected to the conditions of research, creation and development of artistic trajectories.
