GALWAY CHILDREN will be dancing, leaping, learning, and playing with local and international artists this spring, as part of the exciting RISE programme of events.
The RISE programme from the Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, in partnership with Galway 2020, will see young Galwegians aged between eight and 13, take on starring roles in the St Pat’s Lockdown Olympics and The Streets Are Ours.
Lockdown Olympics
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James Riordan.
For the St Pat’s Lockdown Olympics, students and teachers from St Patrick’s National School, with local artist James Riordan and Australian based performance director Darren O’Donnell, are creating and competing in a zany Olympic competition.
“I was literally a day away from stepping onto a plane to head to Galway when the pandemic arrived,” said Darren. “We've kept our nervous optimism alive for a whole year, despite being half a world apart, delivering the weirdest little labour of love that has ever existed.”
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Darren O’Donnell.
From their homes in Galway and Melbourne, James and Darren are creating a series of four whacky weekly videos, delivered to the students’ homes accompanied by props, to guide them through the creation of their own spectacularly zany sports. Each week students earn points for the weirdness, creativity and ‘sportiness’.
“What's been great so far is seeing the students of St Pat’s go wild when creating their own sports from home,” says James. “Feathered clown score targets, golfing chickens, and clothes-peg eared players have all been competing in the Lockdown Olympics and it has been a lot of fun to be a part of.”
The Streets Are Ours
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Photo:- Anita Murphy
Combining parkour, contemporary dance, and circus skills, The Streets Are Ours is seeing local children create a unique performance, while working with Galway Community Circus, Galway Dance Project, and Dutch dance company Arch8. All work is being carried out from home. The dance performance will be recorded in April and shared with the public as soon as safely possible.
Brother and sister Donncha and Daiden Carew, aged 11 and 10, have been with The Streets Are Ours project since October 2019. “We’re excited to finally get to make The Streets Are Ours, even if it’ll be different to the first plan,” says Donncha. Daiden adds, “The zooms with Fionnuala (of Galway Dance Project ) and Isabella (of Galway Community Circus ) are fun, and we can’t wait to see everyone’s dance!”
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Photo:- Anita Murphy
Fionnuala Doyle-Wade of Galway Dance Project remarked that it was“refreshing” to see the “commitment and adaptability” of all those involved, in particular the young people “who have risen to the challenge of creating through new pathways with such enthusiasm”.
The Veiled Ones
The final element of the RISE programme will be The Veiled Ones, a new dance theatre production highlighting the powerful relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, created by renowned Irish company Junk Ensemble.
This immersive work, currently in development, is a co-commission by the TRACKS Network, a network of festivals, comprising Baboró, and others. On April 23, Baboró will host the digital event, ‘In Conversation with Junk Ensemble & kabinet k’, exploring both companies’ development processes in making work with and for children, and the challenges to creating dance in a global pandemic.
For more information see baboro.ie
