Step Up Dance Project 2017 Presents – Ravenous

Step Up Dance Project 2017 Presents – Ravenous – Pictured are some of the performers from Ravenous. Photo: Maurice Gunning

Step Up Dance Project 2017 Presents – Ravenous

By I Love Limerick Correspondent Jordan Mac Cormaic

Step Up Dance Project 2017 culminates with a performance of ‘Ravenous’ at Dance Limerick on Wednesday 30 August at 6 pm.

advertisement

advertisement

advertisement

Choreographed by renowned UK dance artist Gary Clarke, ‘Ravenous’ will be performed by young contemporary dancers Sarah Greene, Celine Jaffe, Niamh Kelly, Oran Leong and Bianca Paige Smith. 

The show will also tour to Nun’s Island Theatre Galway on Thursday 31 August, Firkin Crane Cork Friday 1 September and Dance House Dublin on Saturday 2 September.

‘Ravenous’ is a dance theatre show which takes inspiration from the illegal rave culture of the 1990’s where derelict warehouses and industrial dark-lands became the home for a gathering community of outsider youths.

Drawing influence from the movement of the dance floor and using thunderous music from iconic music masters such as The Prodigy and Mogwai, the 5 Step Up 2017 participants dive head first into a hedonistic landscape of politics and partying.

Step Up Dance Project aims to bridge the gap between dance education and professional contemporary dance practice in Ireland.

Open to exceptional recent dance graduates, selected via open competition, Step Up is an intensive programme of classes, development, rehearsals and performance, directed by a guest choreographer. The project is a partnership between the Arts Council, Dance Limerick, Dance Ireland and the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at UL.

Now in its seventh year, Step Up Dance Project is designed to enhance the participants’ professional networks by connecting them to the Irish contemporary dance community and thereby improve their professional opportunities in Ireland.  The programme includes the following elements:

– Creation & Performance

– Repertory Programme

– Dancers as Entrepreneurs

– Personal Development

Step Up 2017 guest choreographer Gary Clarke is currently regarded as one of the UK’s leading contemporary dance artists. He has received great appreciation for his work as a choreographer, director, performer, mentor, teacher and facilitator.

He has developed a growing reputation for creating extraordinary dance work of various sizes and scales which has received praise from critics, audiences, producers, national dance agencies and venues in the UK and abroad.

Gary’s show Coal, which is currently touring, was the UK Theatre Award Winner for 2016. The strong, powerful and emotive Coal explores the darker underbelly of the mining industry unearthing the true nature and body wrecking demands of a working-class industry now almost forgotten.

Jenny Traynor, Director of Dance Limerick and Producer of Step Up, says of the project “The participants of this year’s Step Up Dance Project come from a wide range of dance backgrounds. It is wonderful to give them the opportunity to develop their technical and performance skills under the direction of a world class choreographer such as Gary Clarke.”

She continued: “The project gives these emerging dance artists the chance to discover how the professional dance community runs and allows them to build their understanding of the creative process. Ravenous is an unmissable high energy show like nothing you’ve seen. It is a free event and all are welcome”.

This is a free event, all are welcome. Booking essential due to limited space, please RSVP to [email protected].

To visit the official Dance Limerick website click here

To read more dance stories on I Love Limerick click here