Tearmann Aiteach / Queer Sanctuary comes to Dance Limerick on Saturday, September 14

Tearmann Aiteach / Queer Sanctuary dances a welcoming space that supports flourishing, solidarity and spritely sparkle. Photo: Nigel Enright

Tearmann Aiteach / Queer Sanctuary, a dance duet that invites audiences to watch, celebrate and maybe even dive in comes to Dance Limerick on Saturday, September 14

This September, dance artists Isabella Oberländer and Fearghus Ó Conchúir are bringing a duet of sweaty dancing, fabulous strangeness, abundance, transforming naked bodies, sparkling visual design and gorgeous garments to Dance Limerick.

Tearmann Aiteach / Queer Sanctuary dances a welcoming space that supports flourishing, solidarity and spritely sparkle.

It has grown out of Fearghus and Isabella’s separate practices as artists of different genders, generations and nationalities. Since coming to Ireland over 15 years ago, Isabella has collaborated with a range of feminist and queer artists, often in visual arts and performance Fearghus has been making work for the past thirty years often engaging with the politics of sexuality, such his major work, The Casement Project.

Together with a group of queer artists and allies ranging from their twenties to closer to sixty, they’re using the joy of dancing to welcome what hasn’t always fit in. Their influences are from the club, from the lake, from the forest, from the silly and the fierce.

Fearghus and Isabella say about bringing the work to the Limerick stage “We’re thrilled to bring this piece to life and share it with audiences in Limerick and beyond. We hope we have crafted a space where movement and connection spark transformation, and we invite the audience to an immersive experience that is joyful and maybe a little challenging.”

Get ready for a full day of activities in Limerick on Saturday 14 September!

> 3-7 pm, @LuailDance "Boombox" Gathering at Arthur’s Quay with Tobi Omoteso & Methembe Thabani Mafu

> Tearmann Aiteach/Queer Sanctuary by Isabella Oberländer & Fearghus Ó Conchúir 7.30 at DL pic.twitter.com/uwE7l3aNLs— Dance Limerick (@DanceLimerick) September 4, 2024

Fearghus and Isabella’s dancing together celebrates what’s possible – sweaty physicality, fabulous strangeness, abundance, transforming naked bodies – and asks what different arrangements of support and desire are available between these multilingual, multi-faceted queer bodies and others.

Created in collaboration with a team of queer artists and allies including Gregor Pituch (costumes), Choy-Ping Ní Chléirigh-Ng 吳彩萍 (interactive design), Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin (lighting), and Luke Pell (dramaturg).

Where conservative ideologies are narrowing our experiences, Tearmann Aiteach / Queer Sanctuary explores possibilities and potential. Audiences are invited to watch, and if they fancy, to dive in and dance.

As part of their research into Tearmann Aiteach / Queer Sanctuary, Isabella and Fearghus collaborated with Dance Limerick’s Pride Dance Project throughout 2024, offering workshops for the participants in which they tested some of the concepts and materials that are part of this piece. A large group of participants came together to explore movement involving extensions and connection, in a warm playful space where everyone found their own style.