Tipperary Dance Platform 2016

Crown jewels are heading for Tipperary

The Tipperary Dance Platform 2016 has managed to capture some of the crown jewels of Irish dance for this year's festival. Now in its seventh year, Tipperary Dance Platform’s curators are inviting some of the best Irish performers to perform at the festival alongside some outstanding international artists. Running from October 10th to Oct 16th Tipp’s annual International Dance Festival has grown from a well-respected local affair to an important event in the Irish dance calendar. Even a cursory glance at some of the artists performing in venues in Thurles, Clonmel, Tipperary Town and Nenagh makes it clear that something quite special will be taking in place in Tipperary during the month of October.

Photo credit:Cie 47.49

There’s a strong multi-disciplinary and multimedia dimension to much of this year’s Tipperary Dance Platform. Katherine O’Malley’s delightfully understated ‘Bias’, sees the dancer interact beautifully with a series of short films projected onto screens. The thought provoking ‘Revolver’ by Iseli-Chiodi Dance Company is a powerful marriage of dance and visual art. The use of film again comes into play in Liz Roche Company’s excellent ‘Wrongheaded’ fresh from this year’s Tiger Dublin Fringe. A collaboration between poet Elaine Freeney, choreographer Liz Roche and film maker Mary Wycherley, ‘Wrongheaded’ explores women’s experiences of the choices available to them around their own bodies. Playing with how performance is framed, Roche juxtaposes the cinematic with a raw and powerful dance sequence that can take your breath away. Another raw and breath-taking display is to be had in Liadain Herriott’s sublime ‘Liminal’ which deservedly garnered her a Best Performer Award at the Tiger Dublin Fringe 2015.

Photo credit: Ewa Figaszewska

There's also a strong international presence with French company Cie 47.49 performing their thought provoking ‘Au Plus Pres Du Monde,’ which explores masculinity and the forces that often compel our behaviour. Swiss company Cie UItilié Publique explore the idea of transformation in ‘Morphoses' and are also the driving forces behind this years’ TDP Lab, which offers a professional research and development environment for dancers. This year, a group of selected dancers work under the mentoring of Corinne Rochet and Nicholas Pettit, choreographers of company Utilité Publique and directors of Junior Company Le Marchepied in Lausanne.

Photo credit: JS Monzani

With all of the above, as well as the TDP Forum, dance classes, master classes, the lens based work ‘Proclamation,’ dance on film and many other events, The Tipperary Dance Platform 2016 has something for everyone, whether amateur or aficionado. The Tipperary Dance Platform 2016 is a unique opportunity to encounter works by international artists as well as a rare opportunity to catch some of the best performances by Irish based dancers, including many you may have missed. But if you’ve already seen them, then it’s an opportunity to go see them again. And I would strongly urge you to, for they, along with all the other performances on offer at The Tipperary Dance Platform 2016, are well worth travelling to see.

The Tipperary Dance Platform 2016 International Dance Festival runs from October 10th to October 16th

For further information, visit Tipperary Dance Platform 2016

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