2025 Light Moves Festival brings adventurous dance, film, sound & new media to Limerick city

2025 Light Moves Festival brings adventurous dance, film, sound & new media to Limerick city

The 2025 Light Moves Festival will bring adventurous dance, film, sound & new media to venues in Limerick city from November 6 to 8

Limerick’s unique Light Moves Festival returns for its 8th edition from Thursday 6, to Saturday, November 8, showcasing bold and innovative dance, film, sound and media art from leading Irish and international artists. This year’s festival features Limerick artists Tobi Omoteso, Peìist, Lisa Cliffe, Mary Nunan, Angie Smalis and Anastasiia Lapko in a programme of screenings, live performances,  free events, workshops, talks and more.

Light Moves will launch on the evening of Thursday, November 6, with both a live performance and a free screening of the first of the festival’s five programmes of short films. The evening’s film programme will include Invein from Limerick-based Street Dance artist Tobi Omoteso. The films will be followed by Groundwork, combining sound, musical and live visuals commissioned as part of Light Moves’ SPIRAL Series. Groundwork brings together Limerick-based improvised noise group Péist and artist Billy Kemp with movement from Aoibhinn O’Dea. Taking their name from the Irish for ‘worm,’ Peìist’s improvisations use synthesisers, electro-acoustic instruments, and purpose-built software to wriggle between sounds.

On Saturday 8th November, Light Moves is presenting significant events with a focus on Palestine and Palestinian artists. At the Belltable there will be a screening of they shoot horses, a critically-acclaimed video installation by Turner Prize nominated artist Phil Collins, depicting a disco dance marathon Collins organised with a group of young people from Ramallah in Palestine. Filmed continuously over the course of eight hours, the dancers move to a soundtrack of pop, rock, and dance hits from the 1960s onwards. This screening is held in solidarity with the people of Palestine, raising donations to support Palestinian civil society.

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Dance artist Laura Murphy will be presenting two elements of Dance Stories, her multi-media exploration of the lives of eight women in dance in Ireland, made in collaboration with filmmaker Pato Cassinoni, animator Alan Early and composer Irene Buckley.

Across Friday 7th and Saturday 8th November, Dance Stories: Installation, a free exhibition featuring intimate audio visual portraits of Limerick-based dance artists Lisa Cliffe, Mary Nunan and Angie Smalis will be at  Dance Limerick Studio. On the afternoon of Friday 7th November, audiences can see a special edition short film that meditates on the lives and work of Jean Butler, Alicia Christofi Walshe, Finola Cronin, Joan Davis and Katherine O’Malley. The screening will be followed by an artist’s talk with Laura.

The festival’s programmes of short film screenings will feature a wealth of Irish films alongside films from around the globe. Kryla, by Limerick-based Ukrainian director/choreographer Anastasiia Lapko, is an exploration of human relationships, mainly shot in the Burren, and will be screened as part of the festival’s 5th film programme on the afternoon of 8th November.

Light Moves 25 is also offering a selection of active participatory experiences. Irish-Trinidadian artist Maïa Nunes is a Sound Healer and vocalist and she will be giving a Sound Bath experience to soothe the nervous system and bring energy into balance.

Choreographers & artists Lucy Cash and Chloë Sayers will lead City Listening: a workshop in (found) choreography for the camera, an event especially designed for the festival and suitable for all levels of screendance experience (and none). This workshop is inspired by the idea of creating a portrait of a city through its movement. Participants will go foraging for movement and images in Limerick’s streets, People’s Park, and waterside. Meanwhile participants in Ways of Doing Things, a short one-to-one performance by Anna Macdonald, will be invited to respond to the performer’s hands to create a small hand duet.

These are just some of the events taking place in Limerick during the festival. For more details, visit the Light Moves website.