As the dust settles on a fabulous fifth edition of Echo Echo Festival of Dance and Movement, we would like to say thank you to everyone who made the festival a wonderful success this year!
Thanks to all of the companies and artists involved! Sasha Soshnikova and Sergei Golvnea of Voices Dance; Rohan Armstrong and Meilana Gillard; Ayesha Mailey, Kelly Quigley, Zoe Ramsey, Tonya Sheina of Echo Echo Ensemble; Virginia Negru; Nasrine Kheltent; Inna Aslamova; Hilde Ingeborg Sandvold; Anastasia Brouzioti, Yiannis Tsigkris of Alma Libre; Lior Lazarof, Timea Laza, Sharon Barbakov; Bjorn Richter of RichterMeyerMarx; Hannah Rogerson and Pieter Visser of Tea Time Company; Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín and Isabella Oberlander; Sibéal Davitt and Kristyn Fontanella; Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Seán Mac Erlaine, Nic Gareiss and Petter Berndalen of This is How we Fly; Julia Tokareva and Alexander Bondarev of Mini-A-Tour; Benno Voorham and Abdalla Omari of LAVA-Dansproduktion; Sophie Ammann, Rosanne Briens, Erin O’Reilly and Tom Dupont of Junebug Company; Anthony McCann, Fionnuala Kennedy and Steven Hadley; and Velvet Alibi – Anna Nolan, Rohan Armstrong, Meilana Gillard, Mike Barkley, Neil Burns, Tom Evans, Joseph Leighton, Paul Fox, Kelly Quigley, James Anderson, Curtis Cunningham, Caroline Crumlish, Abby Oliveira – for an incredible closing concert!
Thank you to our principal Festival funders: Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the National Lottery, and Derry City and Strabane District Council – special mentions for Gilly Campbell and team at ACNI and to Colin Coyle, Jacqueline Whoriskey, Stephen Gillespie and team at Council; thanks to the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Gillian Goode for their ongoing support; thanks to Foyle Foundation for supporting this fifth edition; thanks to the Esmé Mitchell Trust for supporting the 2017 primary schools outreach programme; and thanks to our Festival Friends advertisers – City Cabs, Bennigans Bar, The Sandwich Company, Imbolc Festival and zoocreative.
Thanks to Department of Culture Heritage and Gaeltacht and Aoife O’Sullivan at DCHG for support with the Festival All-Ireland Outreach and Bursary Programme; and thanks to our venue partners and staff at Dance Ireland, Dance Resource Base, Firkin Crane, Galway Dance Project, An Lab Dingle, The Dock Arts Centre, and Theatre NI.
Big thanks to our bursary recipients this year for their wonderful presence and engagement: Sonya Swarte, Gerard Kelly, Amanda Doherty, Sarah Jane Murphy, Natasha Bourke, Marco Novara, Catherine Donnelly, Aliina Lindroos, Orlaith Ní Chearra and Maria Svensson. Keep in touch!
Special thanks to Cultúrlann Uí Chánain and staff for their creative engagement and support for the Tradition and Beyond event, especially Peter O’Doherty, Eibhlín Ní Dhochartaigh and Gerry Tracey. Thanks to Aine and all the staff at The Playhouse.
Thanks to our local venue and outreach partners and all of their staff and teachers: Derry Craft Village, Ardnashee School & College, Holy Cross College Strabane, Donemana PS, St Patrick’s PS Donemana, Audrey Begley and St Cecilia’s College, Sevenoaks Care Home, Groarty Integrated PS, Rosemount PS, Good Shepherd PS, Fiona Pender and Thornhill College, Nadine Hegarty and Fireworks Dance.
Thanks to James and Diane King, Carmel Mulrine, Gerry McGoldrick, Seamus Kennedy and staff at Abbey B&B.
Thanks to Eamon McGinley at Elisha McCallion MP’s ofice for invaluable support with the increasingly challenging visa process this year. Thanks also to Paul Brown at Earagail Arts Festival.
Huge thanks to BBC Radio Foyle & Ulster for sterling support again this year – to Michael Bradley, Conor McCay, Mark Patterson, Marie-Louise Muir, and special mention for Stephen McCauley who recorded an edition of Soundscapes at the Festival (Listen Again here). And thanks also to our many followers on social media channels for the likes, shares, posts, tweets, reviews and comments – #muchappreciated!
Special thanks to all of the artists and companies for use of their images and video in Festival promotional materials. And thanks to Ciaran Harley at zoocreative for the beautiful Festival artwork derived from an image of Junebug Company by Charles Mugel.
Thanks so much to all of the Festival volunteers including Olek Wójcik, Karen Cassidy, Leeann Toland, John Butler, Bernadette Sheils, and Virginia Negru from Contact Festival Bucharest.
Thanks to our directors Margo Harkin, Cath McBride, Paul Johnston, Deirdre Gillespie for volunteering during many Festival events and for their ongoing support and vital advocacy throughout the year!
Thanks to the Echo Echo team: our staff – Steve Batts, Anna Nolan, Barry Davis and Ailbe Beirne; our support team this year – Ciaran Harley and zoocreative, Brian Fisher, Simon Alleyne and Living Witness Productions, Darren Owens, JP Conaghan; and big thanks as always to the Echo Echo Ensemble – Ayesha Mailey, Kelly Quigley, Zoe Ramsey and Tonya Sheina!
Finally, thanks to you – our audiences, colleagues, friends and family for your continued support!
Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company 