Ga Me Me
A sculptural walk in the urban space. The title of the work means "gå med mig", walk with me in the dialect of Ostrobothnia. GA ME ME is a performative piece inspired by Zacharias Topelius' fairy tale Birch and Star. In the work, three dancers create sculptural impressions of the urban environment and the viewer is invited along on their journey.
Year: 2023
Production: Carina Ahlskog
Dancers: Ailish Maher, Elias Berglund, Janne Aspvik
Flute: Jennie Kackur
Photo by: Ken Kackur
Anskri
The contemporary dance piece Anskri asks, can trauma have positive consequences? How do we proceed from here? What kind of world are we leaving behind and to whom? Anskri, loosely based on the different stages of grief, toured the Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia in the spring and summer of 2022 with performances in Pietarsaari, Vöyri, Närpiö and Vaasa.
Year: 2022
Choreography: Janne Aspvik
Dancers: Eleni Pierides, Meri Pajunpää, Ailish Maher and Janne Aspvik
Sound design: Miki Brunou
Lighting design: Eero Alava
Production: Janne Aspvik & Ostrobothnia Dance Regional Center
Photo by: Kevin Pollard
Kädet Kertovat
Kädet Kertovat combines four different art forms. Designed by dance artist Mia Malviniemi, craftswoman Niina Hiltunen, video designer Teemu Kyytinen and sound designer Sami Silén. Ailish Maher is the dancer of the piece.
The body of work builds a world where the presence of four different art forms communicates to the viewer as a strongly physical space. The dance piece, art textile and video are independent parts, but together they form a whole, where different mental landscapes are present.
In the dance piece, the hands play the main role and the movement is created through various bodily memory traces. Hands convey things and through them we touch, build and care. Hiltunen's woven art textile, in addition to the short life of books and their rapid ending up as waste, reflects on the disappearing knowledge of language and culture. The video work makes the physicality of craftsmanship visible through the body and the movement of the looms, where the rhythm of hands, feet and the whole body together create even a meditative space. The sounds of looms are used as the basis of Silén's sound design in both the video and the dance piece.
Year: 2020-22
Choreography: Mia Malviniemi
Dancer: Ailish Maher
Art craft: Niina Hiltunen
Sound design: Sami Silén
Video: Teemu Kyytinen
Photo by: Niina Hiltunen
Moments from K
In Moments from K, choreographer Mia Malviniemi discusses the human relationship with place, city and nature. The choreography ideas are born from thoughts of how a city, nature or a place affects and shapes us as people through its aesthetics, experience or lived experience. The past and the present are present in the work through movement, human voices, music and the world of sounds.
Composer Ralf Nyqvist's music is a commissioned work for the choreography of Moments from K. The composition is in five parts, like the choreography, and its themes have been created based on choreographic and content ideas. The premiere of the piece was on August 6, 2021 at Kokkola Raatihuone, when the choreography was performed by two dancers. Malviniemi continued working on the piece and worked on the choreography for four dancers. The piece was a performance for the group's 10-year anniversary.
Year: 2021
Choreographer: Mia Malviniemi
Composer: Ralf Nyqvist
Dancers: Janne Aspvik, Ailish Maher, Eleni Pierides, Nanna Rahikainen
Lighting designer: Veli-Ville Sivén
Music: Central Ostrobothnia Chamber
Orchestra String Quartet: Teija Pääkkönen (2nd violin), Annica Brännkärr (2nd violin), Ari Hanhikoski (viola) and Ulla Lampela (cello)
Photo by: Ulla Nikula
INIT: The Warm Up Project
Three dancers and a live DJ. Hearts pumping and minds calm. Tuning in to the rhythm. Preparing for the task ahead. This is a side of performance the audience do not normally see. This is the pre-performance, the warm up. Heightened. Pulled into the light. Exploring readiness and availability, the performers synthesise their intention into a state of collective balance. We aim to hide nothing.
Year: 2019
Choreography: Lucia Kickham
Dancers: Ailish Maher, Alessandra Ruggeri, Nerea Gurrutxaga
Dj: Robbie Kitt
Photo by: Luca Trufarelli
I/Thou
I/Thou is a mesmerising dance piece that responds to the work of iconic visual artist Brian O’Doherty, also known as Patrick Ireland.
Inspired by O’Doherty’s mix of perfection and playfulness, this work echoes the themes of migration, language and identity that are ever present in his work – particularly in his wall painting series One, Here, Now, created for Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh in the late nineties and restored again in 2018.
The moving body is set in distilled landscapes of sound, colour and light, creating a world of possibilities in which, even if for a moment, we can transcend individuality. The result is a beautifully compelling performance exploring the everyday intimacies that form our connection to our surroundings and to each other.
I/Thou premiered at Cork Opera House on 7th September 2018 as a centrepiece of the Sirius Arts Centre's year-long programme, One Here Now The Brian O'Doherty Patrick Ireland Project, celebrating O'Doherty's remarkable career. In 2019 I/Thou performed at Dublin Dance Festival, Roscommon Arts Centre and the Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick.
Year: 2018/19
Choreography: Liz Roche
Composition: Linda Buckley
Set and costume design: Joe Vanek
Lighting design: Stephen Dodd
Dancers: Sarah Cerneaux, Miguel do Vale, Glòria Ros Abellana, Ailish Maher, Jack Webb and Kévin Coquelard
Cello: Kate Ellis
Recorded Singers: Suzanne Savage & Robbie Blake
Photo by: Clare Keogh
12 Minute Dances
A collection of short works that premiered at SS.Michael and John's, Smock Alley in 2009 for Dublin Fringe Festival and revived in 2017 for performances at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght and Cork Opera House.
Composed of a sequence of pieces inspired by the paintings of Mark Rothko, the dances are seamlessly woven together to create story in motion.
The works appear as a wash of colour, movement, rhythm and emotion; human embodiment as a dynamic event. The audience completes the picture.
Year: 2017
Choreography: Liz Roche
Lighting design: Kevin Smith
Costume design: Catherine Fay
Set design: Joe Vanek
Dancers: Katherine O’Malley, Miguel do Vale, Liv O'Donoghue, Cliodhna Hoey, Ryan O'Neill, Ailish Maher
Musician: Sean MacErlaine
Original music: Edward Rosenberg, Joel Mellin
Photo by: Fionn McCann
Young People, Old Voices
An accumulation of simple, yet ritualized movement sequences builds an increasingly poignant contrast between Hoghe and 12 young cast members, from Ireland and abroad, who joined him on stage for Young People, Old Voices for the centerpiece performance of Dublin Dance Festival 2010. Hoghe confronts elements of their lives with ‘old voices’ – juxtaposing songs by singers such as Jacques Brel, Billie Holiday and Etta James nearing the end of their careers with the boisterous, every-day activities of the young cast members.
Year: 2010
Direction & choreography: Raimund Hoghe
Artistic collaboration: Luca Giacomo Schulte
Original cast: Lorenzo De Brabandere, Wouter Bouchez, Sarah Késenne, Kristin Rogghe, Pascale Cuggia, Heine Røsdal Avdal, Nicolas Marie, Koen De Preter, Bérengère Bodin, Dorien Bastiaensen, Lieven Dousselaere, Raimund Hoghe
Additional Cast Members Dublin Dance Festival 2010: Aliina Lindroos, Ailish Maher, Olwyn Lyons
Photo by: Rosa Frank