Neither Either

premiere Queens University

As part of Ulster Bank Belfast Festival

DATES 29-30 October 2014

Photo credit Luca Truffarelli

…the strain of being in two places at once, of needing to accommodate two opposing conditions of truthfulness simultaneously…

SEAMUS HEANEY

A Liz Roche Company & Maiden Voyage Co-production

Two dance companies, one from Belfast and one from Dublin, come together to perform a new dance work that looks at the predicament of living out two conflicting states of mind at once. Set to Neil Martin’s score, identities, beliefs, emotions and aspirations are put to the test in this poignant blend of dance, poetry and music.

The production was accompanied by a series of talks with various artists on Heany’s influence curated by Dr. Aoife McGrath, a lecturer in Queens University Belfast. Panels will see the likes of poet Maedbh McGuckian, director Jimmy Fay, and composer George Higgs in discussion, among others.

This was not the first time the two companies collaborated. In 2002 Maiden Voyage Dance and Liz Roche Company (then Rex Levitates) co-produced Senses.

Maiden Voyage Dance’s Nicola Curry said:

“Teaming with Liz Roche Company on this project felt right immediately not just because of our companies’ shared history but because Liz Roche is a choreographer whose detailed and articulate work is as fluid as the words from Heaney’s pen”.

Liz Roche:

“We are delighted to be able to co-produce this dance with Maiden Voyage Dance. Its so important for dance organisations to find new ways of producing work and by sharing resources, networks, artists and audiences we are learning from each other’s organisations as well as enriching them. Somehow this coming together is mirrored in the subject matter of Neither Either as we explore the ideas of identity and the adaptiveness needed to hold more than one point of view at once.”

Liz Roche Company and Maiden Voyage Dance would like to acknowledge the support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland, Belfast City Council, Dublin City Council, Dance Ireland and Dance Limerick.