Professional classes with Rita Marcalo

Dance Limerick announces a 4-week block of classes with dance artist Rita Marcalo.

Fridays 5, 12, 19, 26 May 2023 | 12-1.30pm

Rita Marcalo is a dance artist and choreographer based in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary. She is the artistic director of Instant Dissidence, a dance company based in Cloughjordan Ecovillage which focuses on the role of dance as a social engine.

Rita spent a number of years in the UK, teaching for companies such as Opera North, organisations such as the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, University of Leeds, University of Surrey and various dance houses such as Yorkshire Dance, Bradford Dance Centre and Sheffield Dance Network. In her home country, Portugal, she has worked with Aveiro Dance Company and the Technical University of Lisbon among others.

Her company Instant Dissidence was selected as a CROWD – International Dance Exchange residency partner in 2022. They received support by the Arts Council of Ireland to develop two new dance & food activism concepts, featured in Springback magazine and the Spring 2023 Create Ireland publication, presenting findings in conferences in Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Ireland.

Rita’s class will focus on floor work and air work, paying attention to musicality, travelling, body isolations, 360 dancing, partnering work, and dynamic movement. After a playful cardio and strength-based warm up, we will focus on floor-work technique and our relationship to the ground via a series of exercises, before shifting on to partner work. Each week we will add material and complexity to the phrases, eventually linking them together. Class will end with a cool down focusing on flexibility training and relaxation exercises.