Léim Live

Author: Giulia Galvan

The beginning of my spring this year was marked by my Léim placement in Dublin. This was my second time in the beautiful Irish capital, after last year’s Léim session in July.

I had the opportunity to work with choreographer Catherine Young as assistant dramaturge. These were the last days of research and rehearsals before the official premiere of her piece, Woman Stood Regardless, on 04 April in Project Arts Centre. I really appreciated Catherine’s openness and willingness to share this part of her process. I hope we may be able to work together again in the future.

Woman Stood Regardless is about resilience and recovery. A workshop with women in Kerry was fundamental for the development of the topic, and yet the process expressed by the piece may be applied, more generally, to any human being facing major challenges. One day we met the ladies who had taken part in the workshop with Catherine, it was an enlightening encounter, Catherine had been interpreting their stories in an incredibly profound way.

Every day I would attend the rehearsals as an outside eye, and would provide my feedback to Catherine. I would ask or answer questions, share my feelings about what I was witnessing.

The time I spent in Dublin also gave me the possibility to catch up with Léim colleagues Eleanor Creighton and Sheila Creevey. I was very glad to meet them again in person. We agreed on the point that if you share so much, like we did during Léim, the moment you meet again it is as if you had never stopped seeing each other.

During my time in Dublin two remarkable dance pieces were staged, Agnes by David Bolger (CoisCéim Dance Theatre) and Magnetic by John Scott (Irish Modern Dance Theatre). The two pieces were set in two quite different venues, so I could also get a whiff of the theatre facilities in this area.

Moreover, I could start reflecting and working on my Léim project for Module C about urban development and the “value-adding” potential of performance arts in urban sceneries. Thanks to conversations with Paul Johnson, Liv O’Donoghue, Ellie Creighton and my amazing flat mate Dave Smith, I learned a lot about the urban development of Dublin, though of course I would like to get to know more and more. I devoted one day for my exploration walks of Smithfield and the Docklands – and got utterly surprised by three hailstorms, alternating with sunshine… and the colours are even brighter after the rain.