LATEST NEWS
MARCH / APRIL 2013
What a fantastic start to 2013!
Liz Roche Company premiered Body and Forgetting at The Peacock Theatre Dublin as part of The Abbey Theatre's 2013 programme. We were also delighted to be able to partner with Dance Ireland 21's Made In Dublin Series. We then headed off to perform at DanceXchange Birmingham Hippodrome, Backstage Longford, The ModelSligo, Firkin Crane Cork and Watergate Kilkenny where we also taught classes and workshops to local dancers and dance enthusiasts.
A week residency at The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance working with students of the BA in Voice and Dance and presenting a studio performance of Body and Forgetting at UL brought this intense but exhilarating 4 weeks of performances to a close.
Big thanks to the wonderful performers, creative team, crew and management for all of their hard work and especially to The Abbey Theatre and Dublin Dance Festival.
Body and Forgetting was developed with the support of Modul-dance, a pan-European dance mobility project and Dance Ireland.
Reviews for Body and Forgetting:
"In this performance she (Roche) takes elements from Milan Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, seven fragments of erasure, memory, sex and violence, and turns such physically jarring themes into a dance piece of intriguing suspense, pathos and subjectivity..... with Denis Roche’s stunning musical score....... an intense, visually intriguing manifestation of the power of memory, mind and body."
Reviews Gate Michael Paye
"The Liz Roche Company dancers have a unique musicality of movement all of their own.....doing what the best contemporary dancers do, making us see the familiar human body as something wonderful"
John McKeown Irish Independent
"an exquisite elegy to the broken, stuttering and insistent memories that form the backdrop to our lives"
Dance in Dublin
MDI - LEAP FESTIVAL Liverpool
With the support of Culture Ireland (as part of their International Culture Program January - June 2013 marking Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union) Liz Roche Company is delighted to be performing Fast Portraits atMerseyside Dance Initiative's Leap Festival this weekend in Liverpool. It's going to be a jam packed two days for the company of performance, teaching and debate beginning with:
The Dance Debate:
In the Balance - How can female choreographers based in UK best position themselves for success in the dance world?
Hosted by Charlotte Vincent. Panel members Liz Roche, Sharon Watson, Lucy Suggate, Liz Aggiss and Toni Grove.
Thu 7 March | 3pm - 5.30pm - The Box @ FACT, 88 Wood Street, Liverpool L1 4DQ, Merseyside.
Charlotte Vincent, Artistic Director of Vincent Dance Theatre, hosts a debate about the role of female dance makers in the UK and beyond. Joined by other established female dance practitioners, they will explore whether equality of opportunity exists in the dance field. Discussing career trajectories and confidence, gratitude and glass ceilings, family and feminism, this experienced panel provokes a debate that examines where we find ourselves right now and where we might like to be in the future.
On Friday 8th March 10am - 11.30am Liz Roche will lead morning contemporary professional class at the MDI Studios 24 Hope Street, L1 9BX.
Fast Portraits will be performed at The Capstone Theatre, Hope University at 8pm on Friday 8th March as part of Capital Nights An EU triple bill featuring Liz Roche Company, Arno Schuitemaker and Compagnia Nari-Frangioni
Booking info >>
Download the full LEAP brochure >>
COMING UP......
IETM
Fast Portraits will be performed on April 11th and 12th at 6.30pm at Project Arts Centre as part of the artistic programme for this year's IETM conference in Dublin.For more information >>
Liz Roche Company Associate dance artist Katherine O'Malley attended the IETM conference in Zagreb last October and found the four days to be an enriching and enlightening experience. Many new connections were made and we hope to reconnect again when delegates come to Dublin this April where the conference will be hosted in Project Arts Centre, Dublin.
Liz Roche Company received support from Culture Ireland, Dance Ireland andProject Arts Centre in order to attend.
For more on Fast Portraits please seehttp://www.lizrochecompany.com/work/fastportraits.asp
OTHER NEWS
Best of luck to the Dublin Dance Festival for the launch of their 2013 programme this evening, March 6th!
King Lear at The Abbey
Liz Roche was working as choreographer for the production of King Lear at The Abbey Theatre, directed by Selina Cartmell and designed by Garance Marneur. Beautiful performances not to be missed by the incredible cast, don't miss it!
More info >>
www.lizrochecompany.com
WINTER 2012 / SPRING 2013
BODY AND FORGETTING AT THE ABBEY AND ON TOUR
Liz Roche Company are looking forward to premiering a new full-length version of Body and Forgetting in Ireland and the UK.
Following the sell-out success of the original Body and Forgetting at the 2012 Dublin Dance Festival, the piece has been developed into an evening length work, opening at The Abbey Theatre on the Peacock stage Tuesday January 29th (preview Monday January 28th) and running until Saturday February 2nd. The work will then be performed at DanceXchange, Birmingham Hippodrome, UK prior to an Irish tour to Longford, Sligo, Cork and Kilkenny.
In the emotionally powerful and haunting piece inspired by the writings of Milan Kundera, Liz 's choreography interacts with Alan Gilsenan's film making and Denis Roche's live music. The company's remarkable dancers find their way through delicately woven circumstances of disappearance, loss, relationship and hope. The production features Justine Cooper, Alexandre Iseli, Lucia Kickham, Liv O'Donoghue, Katherine O'Malley, Grant McLay and Jenny Roche.
"We're very much looking forward to bringing this work to a wider audience, and to performing for the first time in Birmingham," says Liz, who is also at work with the Abbey choreographing their forthcoming production of King Lear.
"For those who saw the original version of Body and Forgetting, this extended version will feature new solos among other new elements."
The Body and Forgetting performances at the Abbey form part of the Made in Dublin programme - the inaugural event in Dance Ireland's 21st anniversary programme. A special season of dance performances, all of which were created/developed in Dublin's DanceHouse over the last six years, by Irish and international artists - www.danceireland.ie/21/
Reviews for Body and Forgetting:
"An exquisite elegy to the broken, stuttering and insistent memories that form the backdrop to our lives"
Dance in Dublin
'An impressive multi-layered meditation on memory and identity'
The Irish Times
Performance Dates
The Abbey Theatre Dublin January 28th - February 2nd
DanceXchange Birmingham Hippodrome UK February 7th & 8th
Backstage Longford February 13th
The Model Sligo February 16th
Firkin Crane Cork February 18th
Watergate Theatre Kilkenny February 20th
More info>>
Body And Forgetting Taster:
AUGUST 2012
Another busy month for Liz Roche Company and what a month it has been!
We had a fantastic response to our run of Fast Portraits at DanceBase in Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival receiving four stars and fantastic reviews from Donald Hutera in The Times, who described the piece as a "gem" and from Lorna Irvine in The Skinny.
"...their dancing is fluid yet weighted. Roche's choreography is delicately woven but its threads possess an elusive tensile strength. Entrancing."
Donald Hutera The Times
"It is impossible not to get sucked into this immersive world, seductive and hypnotic - as intimate and beautiful as the score."
Lorna Irvine The Skinny
Next up is our trip to Dusseldorf as part of internationale tanzmesse nrw, where we perform in a triple bill with the Phoenix Dance Theatre and Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater. The performance is completely booked out but presenters/ promoters may be able to secure a seat by contacting the organisers. It takes place on Aug 30 at Central in der Alten Paketpost at 5.15pm.
Also booked out are the Dublin showings at DanceHouse of Liz's latest piece, CROWD, created as part of Step Up: Dance Project 2012 at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in the University of Limerick. Tonight we premiere the piece in the Academy in a double bill together with John Jasperse's new work, THIS WAY OR THAT WAY OR THE OTHER. You can also catch it in Cork at the Firkin Crane on Sunday.
Theatre One, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, UL
Thursday Aug 23 8pm
DanceHouse, Foley St., Dublin 1
Friday Aug 24, 7pm and Saturday Aug 25, 3pm
The Firkin Crane, John Redmond St., Cork
Sunday Aug 26 3pm
Coming up next month, Liz will be teaching a two week series of morning classes (Sep Mon 3rd - Fri 7th & Mon 10th - Fri 14th) at DanceHouse continuing the Company's residence there as part of our new partnership with Dance Ireland.
SUMMER 2012
To further celebrate the launch of Liz Roche Company, formerly known as Rex Levitates Dance Company, the ensemble, will be performing a very special showing of Fast Portraits at DanceHouse, Dublin on June 29th next.
The showing will mark the development of a unique partnership with DanceIreland, which will see Liz Roche Company in residence at the DanceHouse studios as they prepare for their international tour of Fast Portraits throughout the summer. The company have been researching and teaching professional classes at the city centre location throughout the month of June.
Following the Dublin showing, Fast Portraits will go on tour travelling to the Dance Research Forum of Ireland in Derry on June 30th, DanceBase Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival August 3rd - 12th and to Tanzmesse Dusseldorf on August 30th.
Liz Roche and the Company will be the subject of a television documentary to be aired this week, June 23rd on SKY Arts. Their brand new work Body and Forgetting, which wowed audiences at its world premiere at the opening of Dublin Dance Festival earlier this year, will also feature.
Liz Roche Company has just this year rebranded from Rex Levitates Dance Company. Artistically ambitious, the company is known for its own particular brand of contemporary dance, which has been created through an on-going working relationship between Liz Roche and a core group of exceptional dancers and artistic collaborators.
Where to catch Fast Portraits:
DanceHouse showing on 29th June
Dance Research Forum of Ireland, Derry June 30th
DanceBase Edinburgh, August 3rd - 12th
Tanzmesse Dusseldorf August 30th
More info on performances
SPRING 2012
Liz Roche Company presents Body and Forgetting (World Premiere) Dublin Dance Festival 2012 at the Samuel Beckett Theatre
Friday May 11 & Saturday May 12, 2012 7.30pm.
Liz Roche Company to open Dublin Dance Festival 2012 as part of a unique Double Bill with Sarah Dowling.
Liz Roche Company, formerly known as Rex Levitates Dance Company, will open this year's Dublin Dance Festival presenting the world premiere of their new production Body and Forgetting at the Samuel Beckett Theatre on Friday May 11 and Saturday May 12, 2012.
Renowned for creating works that are both delicate and powerful, Liz Roche brings together another cast of remarkable dancers to explore themes of loss, separation, hope and control on film and on stage. Creating different versions of themselves in the piece, the cast struggle to understand how and why they have forgotten.
Currently the subject of a SKY Arts documentary on Dublin Dance Festival 2012, Liz Roche has changed the name of the dance company she set up with her sister Jenny Roche in 1999, Rex Levitates Dance Company to Liz Roche Company and this is the first work under the new name.
Speaking about the change, Artistic Director and Choreographer Roche commented, "I am privileged to be in the position to steer the company with a clear artistic vision into the future and am excited about our next state of evolvement."
As Liz Roche Company, they will continue their artistically ambitious programme of innovative dance productions examining sources of inspiration, embodied social and cultural constructs and the intensity of physical connections and boundaries through their own unique, organically developed movement style.
For the new work, Roche is collaborating with film director Alan Gilsenan, composer Denis Roche, lighting designer Sinead Wallace and costume designer Catherine Fay. Body and Forgetting will share the stage with Sarah Dowling's The Wake, as part of the opening night of Dublin Dance Festival 2012 in a unique double bill.
AUTUMN 2011
The company begin the National Tour of their latest work, Fast Portraits on October 14th at the Tipperary Dance Platform and will be continuing with visits to Sligo, Limerick, Ennis and Tralee. This latest evening of work from award-winning choreographer Liz Roche features two new pieces, Fast Portraits and These Two People with specially commissioned scores by Denis Roche and a short film piece, Solo Portrait directed by Dublin Theatre Festival Artistic Director, Willie White, produced with Project Arts Centre.
Fast Portraits will be presented at the Tipperary Dance Platform, which is running over 3 days and will be showcasing work from top national and international dance companies including Compania Danza Nomada, Iseli-Chiodi Dance Company and Nick Bryson & Damian Punch.
In Sligo, Fast Portraits will be performed together with the premiere of Prompted Breathless, a new work from Liv O’Donoghue commissioned by Hawkswell Theatre under their Dance Artist in Residence Programme, which has been conducted under the mentorship of Liz Roche.
Liz is also Choreographer in Residence in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at University of Limerick and the Fast Portraits full programme will be performed at the Academy on October 27 as part of their Autumn/ Winter lunchtime concert series (Theatre 1). Rex Levitates will also be in residence at the Academy from October 24th working with the students of the MA programme in Contemporary dance culminating in the performance.
The full programme will also be presented at glór, Ennis on November 1 as well as at Siamsa Tire, Tralee on November 3 to conclude the National Tour. There will also be a screening of the short film Solo Portrait, directed by Willie White at the Kerry Film Festival on November 3.
Preceding Fast Portraits at Siamsa Tire will be Taking Distance, a short contemporary dance work. The work has been produced by Katherine O'Malley, Associate Dance Artist with Rex Levitates Dance Company and Lisa McLoughlin as part of a special dance project incorporating six individuals from diverse dance backgrounds who, over a period of three weekends, were introduced to the concepts, choreography and movement style of Rex Levitates Dance Company.
Fast Portraits
Tipperary Excel Arts & Cultural Centre
October 14, 7.30pm (as part of Tipperary Dance Platform)
€10 Book Now: 062 80 520
Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo
October 21 – 22, 8pm (together with Prompted Breathless by Liv O’Donoghue)
€15/€12/€5 (u12 ) Book Now: www.hawkswell.ie/ | 071 9161518
Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick
October 27, 1.15pm (Theatre 1)
Free Book Now: Tel: 061 202917 | ellen.byrne@ul.ie | www.irishworldacademy.ie
glór, Ennis
November 1, 8pm
€20/ Conc. €15 Book Now: www.glór.ie / | (065) 6843 103
Siamsa Tíre, Tralee
November 3, 8pm
€16/€13 Book Now: www.siamsatire.com/ | +353 (0)66 7123055
