Established and renowned choreographer Mary Nunan has been commissioned to create a piece especially for the launch of Dance Limerick on the 3rd October at the Daghdha Space. An experienced and accomplished choreographer Mary Nunan is currently Course Director of the MA in Contemporary Dance Performance at the University of Limerick, and was the founding Artistic Director of Daghdha Dance Company.
Mary’s commission (currently unnamed) has at its starting point the romantic and lyrical 2nd movement of Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C major. Fittingly Mary has created an ensemble piece with five female dancers. The choreography meets the otherworldly tranquility of the music with grounded, soft, earthy movements as the dancers trace patterns in the space. It also holds a steady intensity as it passes through the turbulent passages of the music with movement patterns that, rhythmically and spatially, fall together and apart: repeatedly.
A celebration of dance and also a celebration of the beauty and space of the church (Daghdha Space), the performance very much honours Schubert’s composition while not slavishly following it. Commenting on her commission Mary says:
“In working on this piece I really wanted to celebrate the capacity that the dancers have and bring a layer of subtelty and detail to relatively simple movements. It takes a lot of skill and sensitivity to do this so I’m delighted to have this opportunity to work with what I consider to be some of the best dancers in Ireland in choreographing this work. I rarely work with music so taking Schubert’s composition as my starting point was very unusual for me. What I’ve really tried to do here is to get inside the music with movement, in essence to get in under the music.”
Mary’s commission is 15 minutes long and will be performed in front of approximately 100 guests at the launch of Dance Limerick on Thursday 3rd October. The five female dancers performing the piece are Katherine O’Malley, Lisa McLoughlin, Laura Murphy, Nora Rodriguez and Dagmara Jerzak.
