Lucia Kickham
2018 - 2021
In the three years that Lucia has been Associate Dance Artist at Liz Roche Company she has developed a series of new works across different platforms. She has been honing her approach and developing her multi layered practice encompassing improvisation, text, and interdisciplinary performance.
Middle End Beginning
In 2020 Liz Roche Company was awarded an Arts Council Dance Commissions Award to support the development and premiere of Middle End Beginning which took place during the Modes of Capture Symposium 2021 at the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick. The piece was performed by Lucia Kickham, Jools Gilson, Craig Cox and Matt Burke. Middle End Beginning (2021) explores a shifting perspective on dance practice and co-management of space. Attempting to let go of ingrained patterning, the work looks to make space for play, for the other and for finding ways to enrich an experience collectively. It embraces the idea of powerful softness, in movement and in collaboration. This is a solo dance performance that is in a real-time conversation with collaborating sound artist, writer and lighting designer.
A second output from this commission is the film Soft Focus created by Lucia and filmmaker Luca Truffarelli.
This is me, trying to communicate
In 2019 Lucia presented a work in progress duet This is Me, Trying to Communicate at Dance Limerick for the Modes of Capture Symposium, on June 22nd at Dance Limerick. This is Me, Trying to Communicate looks at the concept of Lingua Franca, a language that is adopted and used systematically to make communication possible between people who do not share a native language. It explores the communicative power of the dancing body as one such language. The performers play with the buoyant space between the abstract and the concrete; linking movement to spoken language, decoding and physicalising aural utterances, translating vocal dynamics into dynamic movement conversations.
Developed with the support of a Dance Limerick Percolate Residency, Performed by Lucia Kickham and Ailish Maher.
For more about Lucia and her work, visit: www.luciakickham.com
"Working as an independent freelance dance performer and maker is challenging. It can feel precarious, surviving on sporadic opportunities as they arise. There’s little opportunity to focus on business plans or strategic growth models. My time as Associate Dance Artist with Liz Roche Company was an invitation to properly think about my professional development in these terms. I could discuss my career goals with Liz, who has a wealth of industry knowledge. She helped me explore new opportunities for showing my work and new avenues for expanding my creative practice. She advised me on potential collaborations and partnerships, on how and who to approach. This support gave me confidence to be more ambitious in making work and networking. I finally felt I was in a position to take control of my career progression. This backing and agency is huge for any independent artist and is the reason I believe this Associate Dance Artist scheme is so worthwhile."
