Connect with us
Fidget Feet Blank Canvas Fidget Feet Blank Canvas

dance

Fidget Feet Blank Canvas, Vertical Dancers fly from Iconic Limerick Buildings

Vertical Dance Fidget Feet Blank Canvas Associate Artist Kathryn Cooley.

For Fidget Feet Blank CanvasVertical Dancers fly from iconic Limerick Buildings

Limerick based Aerial Dance Theatre Company Fidget Feet bring 16 local and international dancers to Limerick’s most iconic landmarks to teach them how to fly from their walls as part of a one-off European project.


advertisement




advertisement




advertisement




advertisement




advertisement



Fidget Feet Blank Canvas takes place from June 13 – 17, 2018 as part of the Vertical Dance Forum, a group of 7 of the world’s top vertical dance creators, directors, and choreographers whose aim is to train people in vertical dance and create new outdoor performances on historical sites, city centre buildings and outdoor nature landscapes, which has taken place before. Vertical Dance Forum is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, with support from the Arts Council of Ireland, Limerick City and County Council and Donegal County Council.

This gathering is the first of it’s kind in Ireland and thanks to Fidget Feet, Limerick was chosen as the location to create new work and train dancers. The project participants include staff and students from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in the University of Limerick, where Fidget Feet is the resident company, as well as national and international dancers coming to Limerick for this unique training.

The dancers will be based in Limerick’s Irish Aerial Creation Centre (IACC), Ireland’s first dedicated training space for aerial dance, where they will begin their training by the world’s leading vertical dance performers and teachers. Then they take to the walls of King John’s Castle and the Strand Hotel on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 June from 10:30 am – 4:30 pm each day and put what they learned into practice. The group travel to the Burren on Sunday 17 and working with the Burren National Park Ranger will identify an area to create a new performance. That evening a discussion will take place, exploring the idea of working with Limerick City and County Council to curate a vertical dance programme as part of one of Limerick’s existing festivals in 2020, including a possible new outdoor vertical dance performance in Limerick. This discussion will take place in the IACC beginning at 8 pm and is open to the public.

Fidget Feet Blank Canvas

Vertical Dance Fidget Feet Associate Artists Lee Clayden and Kathryn Cooley

For Executive Artistic Director of Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Theatre and Professional Development Manager of the Irish Aerial Creation Centre Chantal McCormick, this project happening in Limerick is a dream come true.

“Since Fidget Feet has moved to this fantastic city in 2014 as part of City of Cultural I have looked at all these fabulous buildings and dreamed to be able to fly on them and animate the city. Now with this European funded project, we are starting to make it happen and I am so thrilled!

For me, this is only the beginning and we hope to work with the local Council and local festivals to commission a large-scale vertical dance aerial show in the future for the city it’s the people. Fidget Feet enjoy making the impossible possible and Limerick is our home now to make it happen.”

Project partners include Limerick City and County Council Arts Office, who has worked with and support Fidget Feet since 2014, events include St. Patrick’s Day parade, Limerick city and county School of Spectacle European Outdoor Arts Academy, funded by Creative Europe. 

This support is in accordance with the Limerick Cultural Strategy: A Framework 2016-2030, aim and objective number 2. To grow the physical and human resources, infrastructure and support for staging large-scale interventions, performances, festivals, and productions.

The Vertical Dance Forum is a network of 7 international vertical dance companies working in Europe and Canada. Along with Limerick based Fidget Feet, other companies include Il Posto (Italy), Gravity & Levity (UK), Histeria Nova (Croatia), Aeriosa (Canada), Retouramont (France) and Vertical Dance Kate Lawrence VDKL (Wales).

 

For more information about Fidget Feet Blank Canvas click here

For more stories related to dance in Limerick click here

 

Pictures By Sophie Goodwin/ilovelimerick

Pictures by Ciara Maria Hayes/ilovelimerick

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.