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WHACK!! WITH PHILIP CONNAUGHTON & ASHLEY CHEN

Thurs 03 March | 8pm | Dance Limerick Space | €12/€10

In a bright white space, two men in suits collide.
Whack!! is a tour de force. Violent yet tender. It shifts and blurs the lines between comedy and tragedy. It invites you in with humour and grips you with demanding, exhausting feats of dance. Are they fighting? Is there a winner?
Adults and children alike are enthralled by this quirky, dysfunctional relationship.

Contemporary dance artists and collaborators Philip Connaughton and Ashley Chen perform this exciting new work at Dance Limerick on Thursday 3rd March at 8pm. A physically and technically demanding piece, Whack!! shifts between comedy and tragedy, violence and tenderness, and sees the two performers pushing their bodies to their absolute limits.

Created by Connaughton and Chen, who have been performing together for over 10 years, Whack!! is based on the idea of obstruction, of two bodies colliding in space, of two performers negotiating each other as obstacles. The physical aggression of the piece is counterbalanced by other elements in the piece such as the playful music and the young performer who joins the dancers on stage. The result is a rich, layered environment which explores how humans exist, communicate and compete.

Announcing details of the performance, Jenny Traynor, Director of Dance Limerick, said “We’re really pleased to present Whack!! at Dance Limerick. Philip Connaughton is an exciting contemporary dance artist who constantly pushes the boundaries and seeks new ways to express his ideas. His long-term friendship with the fantastic French dance artist Ashley Chen brings a tremendous level of trust and understanding to this very physical, but ultimately very entertaining piece. I think Whack!! will really appeal to audiences in Limerick”.

Whack!! is supported by the Arts Council, Dance Ireland, Paris Réseau Danse (Studio Regard Du Cygne, Micadanses, Atelier de Paris-Carolyn Carlson, Etoile du Nord) and CCN de Tours/Thomas Lebrun.

Choreography and Performance: Philip Connaughton & Ashley Chen
Lighting Design: Adrian Mullen
Photo: Luca Truffarelli

About the performers
Philip Connaughton is a choreographer and performer originally from Dublin. He began dancing locally and then went on to train at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London. As a choreographer, his first solo, Embody, was created during a residency at Movement Research (NYC), and since then he has been performing his work internationally. Philip was Associate Artist of Dance Ireland [2013/14] and Artist in Residence at Axis Ballymun [2012] where he had the opportunity to create Mortuus Est Philippus for Dublin Dance Festival. In 2014, he created a large-scale ensemble piece Tardigrade which was nominated for Best Production, and won best design in the Tiger Dublin Fringe Awards. His lecture-performance Dance Uncovered (sensational) was featured in Dublin Dance Festival 2015. Philip has been accepted as a laureate for the residence Récollets 2016 in Paris, and has also just been announced a recipient of the 16 x 16: Next Generation Bursary Award. http://www.philipconnaughton.com/

Ashley Chen trained at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Danse in Paris. Following a project with Thomas Duchatelet in Lille, he joined the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 2000. Returning to Europe in 2004 to be part of the Lyon Opera Ballet, Ashley went on to dance works by William Forsythe, Trisha Brown, Phillipe Decouflé, Christian Rizzo, Mathilde Monnier, Angelin Preljocaj and Russel Maliphant.
Since 2006, Ashley has been a freelance dancer collaborating with choreographers in Europe such as John Scott, Liz Roche, Michael Clark, Jean‐Luc Ducourt, Michele Ann de Mey, Chantal Yzerman, Phillipe Decouflé and Boris Charmatz.
In 2012, he created Compagnie Kashyl and has shown his work in Paris and New York. Ashley’s next work, Chance, Space and Time, will premier at the CCN and tour in April 2016.

“The two dancers’ reputation for high-octane performances that mix humour and thoughtfulness promise a crunching, full-bodied encounter.”
The Irish Times

Pricing

€12/€10

€12/€10


Time

8:00 pm - 9:00 pm


Date

3 March 2016


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