Limerick Fringe presents Eimear Byrne’s contemporary dance Renewal

Eimear Byrne and Mihaela Griveva rehearsing Renewal. Courtesy of Eimear Byrne.

Limerick Fringe presents Eimear Byrne’s contemporary dance Renewal

Eimear Byrne and Mihaela Griveva rehearsing Renewal. Courtesy of Eimear Byrne.

Eimear Byrne is an Irish dance artist, who in 2017 graduated with a Masters in Contemporary Dance Performance at University of Limerick with First Class Honours. She has performed and toured nationally with ‘Live Archive’ curated by Emma Meehan. She performed ‘Two Can Do’ choreographed by Bianca Paige Smith which won most innovative award at Limerick Fringe 2017 and later performed this as part of Culture night at St. John’s Church, Dance Limerick.

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More recently she has been in the process of creating a new work, ‘Renewal’, this has been performed at Dance Ireland, Whale Theatre in Greystones, The Mission Theatre in Bath, and will be performed at St John’s Pavillion on April 6th and 7th as part of Limerick Fringe 2018. This work is a work in progress and will be danced with Bulgarian dancer, Mihaela Griveva.

The inspiration behind this work ‘Renewal’ came from the words of a very good friend and
colleague of Eimear’s, Alison Doherty as they had a conversation about life-changing events. ‘I
have one word for times like this and it is, renewal’ when this was said to Eimear, she described it as being handed a small gift. These words stuck with her and after a few months, she began to question it.Is it possible to return to what we had already started after a period of renewal takes place

Is it possible to return to what we had already started after a period of renewal takes place following some kind of an interruption (big or small) occuring? Lewis Caroll’s words in Alice in Wonderland reminds us that this may not be a possibility? ‘I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then’.

Eimear describes Renewal as, “a process, I believe it has stages, but how many? Is it possible to know when we have been through all of the stages and have come out the other side as renewed? – is it not until another interruption occurs that kick starts a new renewal cycle for us and so we move on from our last one?’ So when our past is shaken up, then asked to speak in a live performative context through the body, what happens physically?”

The duet piece is broken into sections these sections are interrupted by specific time frames. There is a spatial relationship between the two dancers but no contact is ever made, their connection is purely energetic. As they physicalize the many ups and downs of life through a see saw type motion that investigates present-ness, balance and fragility the dancers are greatly challenged. These see saw sections become interrupted by a physical form of ‘renewal’ the dancers portray this through rapid, vigourous and high speed spins on a circular floor pattern where the dancers are forbidden to spot in the space.

Eimear stated that she decided to create this duet piece now because “I believe we are slightly unaware of how much renewing we do in our lives (large scale and small scale). I think, with our super fast paced, screen orientated worlds that can sometimes consume us, being present in ourselves and listening may not happen as often as it should and is a vital tool for us to survive as good humans giving us a knowledgeable sense of our own self awareness on what we have experienced, are experiencing and will experience down the line. I have a very strong interest in duet work and am developing this area of my dance practice with this new work. The work I believe is at a very early stage and is developing at a fast rate. The journey of ‘Renewal’ has only begun!”

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For more information on Eimear Byrne’s Renewal, go here.