PART OF BRIGHTENING AIR | COISCÉIM COILIGH

12-20 JUNE 2021
#INTHEMAGICHOUR

Take a tantalising glimpse into a stranger’s life in a durational dance installation that explores our body language and physical conversations with nature – all in a handball alley during the magic hour at dusk.

In the first year of the pandemic, our contact with each other and nature was severely disrupted – our ease with human proximity undermined. IN THE MAGIC HOUR investigated this singular moment through the kinetic conversations with the landscapes that surrounded us. This multilayered production featured a core creative team of David Bolger, media artist Christopher Ash, composer Michael Fleming and four exceptional dance artists Lee Clayden, Justine Cooper, Ivonne Kalter and Jonathan Mitchell.

Over the course of five evenings, as the sun set, the airy and familiar setting of a handball alley became the portal to experience the projection of a unique spontaneous performance being created at DanceHouse, Dublin in response to a live physical interview with a member of the public in that handball alley itself filmed by Ste Murray.  The live choreographic and sound composition in Dublin was captured through the lens of Luca Truffarelli and streamed live to audiences in the handball alley who experienced this spontaneous performance in real-time. 

Building on the process of the BODY LANGUAGE project, a film of the evening's events that took place in both locations was live-mixed and streamed the following day online to audiences around the globe.

Firmly embedded in the Irish psyche, handball alleys are fascinating structures. Not just for sport – they have been spaces for everything from matchmaking to card playing – where people have gathered to dance, to chat, to meet, to play… As part of this production, curator Caoimhe Coburn Gray traversed Ireland and collected and recorded stories and inspiring moments in multiple media in the Broadreach project IN YOUR WORDS.

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Gallery

DANCE ARTISTS Lee Clayden, Justine Cooper, Ivonne Kalter, Jonathan Mitchell

DIRECTION/CHOREOGRAPHY David Bolger
DESIGNER/MEDIA ARTIST Christopher Ash
COMPOSER Michael Fleming
COSTUME DESIGNER Arran Murphy
CINEMATOGRAPHERS, Ste Murray, Luca Truffarelli

PRODUCTION MANAGER Mick Stapleton
TECHNICAL MANAGER, STUDIO Eoin Kilkenny
VISION MIXER Gary Finnegan
SOUND MIXER James Blake
STAGE MANAGERS Dylan Farrell, Aaron Kennedy

IN YOUR WORDS PROGRAMME COORDINATOR Caoimhe Coburn Gray
GRAPHIC DESIGN Alphabet Soup
LOGISTICS PRODUCTION PARTNER Barry O’Donovan, Native Events

Presented with the generous support of Dance Ireland and broadcast in partnership with DanceHouse.

IN THE MAGIC HOUR is a re-imagination of the BODY LANGUAGE project that was developed in collaboration with the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin and presented in their exhibition programme in 2017.

ABOUT THE CAST

Lee Clayden

Justine Cooper

Michael Fleming

Ivonne Kalter

Jonathan Mitchell

Ste Murray

Luca Truffarelli

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Christopher Ash

David Bolger

Michael Fleming

Ste Murray

Luca Truffarelli