The Last Witch Burned in Ireland…

“A two minute excerpt from a spoken word piece called ‘Bridget’s Curse’, in which Bridget wanders the graveyard – as she has done each night for over 120 years – waiting for her loved ones to turn up to her funeral. Relates to the burning of Bridget Cleary, aka ‘The Last Witch Burned in Ireland’ in 1895.”

LEGENDS OF THE COVEN by Abby Oliveira will be showing as part of a special theatre double bill for Derry Halloween at Echo Echo Studios this weekend.

Tickets: http://echoechodance.com/whatson/ghosts-legends-of-the-coven

 

 

 

Short Works programme announcement!

The evening of Short Works at Echo Echo Festival of Dance and Movement is always a special event in the festival programme. The auditorium is always full. The opportunity to see eight works from different artists in one evening stimulates debate and conversation. The fact that the performers also join the audience to watch each other’s work gives the event the feeling of a creative exchange between artists themselves and the audience members. The warmth of the atmosphere is always remarked on by participating artists and audience members.

The short works programme is selected from an open call which Echo Echo puts out in spring each year. As our festival has become better known and more respected nationally and internationally the numbers proposing performances has grown. In the first year we had 14 proposals and in the second around 30. This year in 2018 we had well over 200. In the past four years I have watched videos of over 600 short works. What a privilege (a time consuming and demanding one) this has been! Of course I haven’t liked everything I’ve seen or thought everything was good work but the overwhelming experience has been one of feeling the immense good-will and honest heart that dancers and choreographers generally put into their creative practice. This year we will welcome artists and companies from all over the world.

At 8pm on Thursday 15^th and Friday 16^th November at Echo Echo Studios Ferenc Feher from Budapest brings a darkly atmospheric and mysterious duet The Station; Palestinian, Sahar Damoni performs Pirg’in, which suspends between meditative calm and thematic tensions to do with being an Arab woman dance artist living in Israel; Wei-An Hwa from Malaysia performs a beautifully phrased exploration of the art of falling; Julianne Chappel and Maxine Chadburn perform a humorous duet where the removal of all dance affectation has the surprising effect of re-inventing dance; Rikilikemagic (Rachel Sheil) from Limerick brings a chunk of her passion for hip hop and k-pop; Susan Koper comes all the way from Indiana in the USA to present her intense, personal and wonderfully visceral “She Knows In Her Bones”; LBWL Collective (short for the lovely company name, Look But With Love) of Suahee Abro, from Pakistan and Lucia Moretti, from Italy perform the passionate duet Wild Truths, Tender Lies; Luminous Soul from Belfast bring a deceptively simple, understated and touching duet, Meeting of Two Souls by Linda Fearon and Cinzia Savoniiti directed by Helen Hall.

As well as the evening performances there will be a free film showing at 2pm on Friday 16th by Zoe Ui Fhaolain. Zoe submitted A Walk In My Shoes, made with the Camphill Community, Dingle, Kerry, to our “open call” for the programme of short works. It is a lovely gentle call to enter a slower rhythm where compassion and understanding are carried lightly and simply. It was too long for the 15 minute limit for the mixed bill, but we liked it so much that we invited her to show it at a special screening.

We hope you can join us!

Steve Batts, Echo Echo Artistic Director

 

 

Short Works

An evening of eight performances selected from the Festival Open Call

Thursday 15th and Friday 16th November at 8pm

Echo Echo Studios, Magazine Street, Derry-Londonderry

Tickets £10 and £8 conc available now

 

 

Film Screening

A Walk in My Shoes

Friday 16th November at 2pm

Echo Echo Studios, Magazine Street, Derry-Londonderry

Free entry

 

 

Echo Echo Festival of Dance and Movement takes place in Derry and Belfast from 5th-17th November 2018.

For further information and full programme details visit the company website:

 

 

 

 

Public Statement on the absence of disability access to Echo Echo Studios

PUBLIC STATEMENT ON THE ABSENCE OF DISABILITY ACCESS TO ECHO ECHO STUDIOS

Many people will be aware that we have had serious problems in relation to disability access following the extensive renovation of our premises at Waterloo House undertaken by Tracey Architects (design/project management) and AMS Limited (main contractor) which were appointed through a tendering process in 2012.

Our lift, which provides access to the various studios, office and other work-spaces has been out of use since October 2016 when an independent report concluded that it was unsafe. Due to the issue with the lift the renovation project, which began in November 2012, has not yet been formally completed.

Following an extensive period without proper disability access during which we have increasingly faced comments and questions about this issue we now feel obliged to make a public statement to inform our users, participants, partner organisations and the general public of the situation.

Throughout more than 25 years of Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company’s existence, the Company has always had regard for inclusion and access. When the company moved into its new home in Magazine Street we were delighted that the care and attention we had devoted to accessibility during the planning and design stage of the renovation project was rewarded with a Silver Standard Certificate for Accessibility from Change a Little Change a Lot.

The lack of proper disability access to our studios since October 2016 has had a detrimental effect on our work, on relations with partner organisations and on individuals with disabilities. We have found this situation both frustrating and embarrassing.

We have made great efforts over the past two years to resolve the situation to no avail. In December 2017 we commissioned a second independent report which was provided to all parties involved in the renovation project. As with the first report, the lift inspection was undertaken by a respected industry professional. This report affirmed the conclusions of the first report and elaborated on the shortcomings of the design and installation of the lift equipment. These shortcomings have been present from the outset of the renovation and it is only by luck that no one has been injured as the lift has been deemed to be at risk of “sudden and catastrophic failure.”

Despite our very best efforts, the lift remains in a state of disrepair with the contractors involved failing to take responsibility. In view of this, we have no other option than to initiate legal proceedings in an effort to resolve the issue as soon as possible and ensure safe and appropriate disability access to our premises.

In the meantime, we would like to thank our colleagues, participants and audience members for their understanding in this matter over the past two years. We want to assure everyone that we have been taking this matter very seriously and continue to do so.

Signed:

Echo Echo Board

Echo Echo Staff

Echo Echo Ensemble Members

15th October 2018