Limerick Chamber hosts Culture Night performance of ‘Women and Work The Contract’

Women and Work The Contract is a dance theatre performance led by choreographer Philippa Donnellan. Pictured above at the Limerick Chamber are Dee Ryan, Limerick Chamber CEO, Jenny Traynor, Director of Dance Limerick, project participants Karah Delaney and Niamh Clancy, Philippa Donnellan, project choreographer and curator of DL.BRIDGE and Donnacha Hurley Limerick Chamber President. Picture: Morning Star Photography

Limerick Chamber hosts Culture Night performance of ‘Women and Work The Contract’

The piece is performed by an ensemble of dynamic local women with a love of dance, pictured above.

Women and Work The Contract is a dance theatre performance led by choreographer Philippa Donnellan, and theatre artist Ruth Lehane, premiering on Culture Night, Friday, September 17 at 6pm with additional performances on Saturday, September 18 in the afternoon. The project is produced in association with Dance Limerick, as part of their new community engagement initiative DL.Bridge, and hosted by Limerick Chamber.

advertisement

advertisement

advertisement

Women and Work The Contract takes a light-hearted, quizzical look at life in the workplace as experienced by women. The piece is performed by an ensemble of dynamic local women with a love of dance, who have been busy rehearsing with Philippa and Ruth over the past six weeks at Dance Limerick. Limerick Chamber opens its doors to host the show, and provides a striking office background for this special promenade performance. The piece is inspired by women from all walks of life who joined Philippa during a research residency at Dance Limerick in 2019.

Project choreographer Philippa Donnellan says about the project, “It has been a heart-warming time to gather together such a diverse group of women of different ages and experiences. Without exception everyone has relished this opportunity to create dance and to perform in the impressive offices of Limerick Chamber… we can’t wait!” 

About the Artists

Women and Work The Contract takes a light-hearted, quizzical look at life in the workplace as experienced by women

Philippa Donnellan is an independent professional dance artist and choreographer based in Dublin. Her creative practice focuses on exploring themes and stories that respond to the place and time in which we live, by engaging with varied communities of age, experience, culture, and location.  Her work is collaborative and multidisciplinary, and embraces a range of physical, movement-based disciplines together with other art forms and technologies in the creation of dance theatre and performance.

From 2006 to 2020 she was Director of CoisCéim Broadreach participation and engagement programme of CoisCéim Dance Theatre, and for 2020-21 took on the role of BROADREACH Advisor. During this time she has facilitated residencies, associations and partnerships with a number of leading Irish institutions, and has contributed to building an innovative programme of dance participation activities.

As an independent artist, and following an award from Kildare County Council Arts Services, Philippa began Body of Work Movement Research Project 2020-21 to explore themes of work with different communities in Kildare and beyond. In January 2021, in collaboration with dancer Olwyn Lyons, she became dancer in residence in two Dublin and Kildare centres as part of Age & Opportunity Artist in Residence in Care Settings 2021, supported by Creative Ireland.

Since early 2021, Philippa Donnellan is the curator for new community engagement initiative DL.Bridge at Dance Limerick.

Ruth Lehane is an award-winning actress, writer, and theatre maker. Having trained at The Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College, Dublin, her interest in movement brought her to further study at Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris for two years; and The Theatre Resource Centre, Toronto, Canada. Ruth’s professional experience is therefore characterised by versatility: while much of her work has been explicitly text-based, she is also well acquainted with a highly physical approach to theatre. She is the founder of Fourth Leaf Theatre Company. Ruth’s company makes theatre that provokes challenges and delights an audience. She won the Best Female Performer award for The Lehane Trilogy which she wrote and performed at the Dublin Fringe 2012. The follow up Ruth 66 was a huge success at Dublin Fringe 2013.

She has toured with her work internationally to London, Edinburg, Glasgow, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Bulgaria, Romania and New York. Ruth is a highly skilled practitioner influenced by the methodology of Jacques Lecoq and the disciplines of Theatre of Clown, Neutral Mask, Gestural Language and The Architecture of the Space, as well as running workshops at The Lir Academy; The Gaiety School of Acting; and The Abbey Theatre Skills for Business Programme.

DL. Bridge is a new pilot programme which aims to strengthen Dance Limerick’s role within Limerick city and promote civic dialogue. Supported through the Arts Council’s Capacity Fund, the programme seeks to provide new pathways for individuals and communities to engage with dance, and to extend social and artistic exchange that fosters opportunities for people to develop art that is relevant to their lives and environment. It is envisaged that these diverse, creative experiences will impact positively on people’s lives and wellbeing, and help celebrate and strengthen a sense of place and cultural belonging. The aims and values of DL.Bridge  are supported by Dance Limerick’s Diversity and Inclusion Policy. 

Tickets for ‘Women and Work The Contract’ are limited due to current government Covid-19 guidelines, booking opens from Friday, September 3.

Book your tickets HERE  

For more stories on Dance Limerick, see HERE 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dance Limerick (@dancelimerick)