Artist Support - Choy-Ping Ní Chléirigh-Ng 吳彩萍 & Aoife McAtamney

We are delighted to welcome Theatre Maker and Designer Choy-Ping Ní Chléirigh-Ng 吳彩萍 to Draíocht with dancer, choreographer and musician Aoife McAtamney for a day of Artist Support.

Choy-Ping Ní Chléirigh-Ng 吳彩萍 (°1997, they / she) is a Hong Kong-Irish theatre maker and designer of set, costume and video. Ping was born and raised in Enniskerry, Wicklow. They won a Linbury Prize and John Elvery Prize after graduating from MA Performance Design at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (2021). They have designed for venues including the Abbey Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and Singapore Repertory Theatre. They were a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Award (2022). Their most recent piece of theatre making / designing, WINDOW A WORLD, was co-produced by Dublin Theatre Festival and BUDA Belgium through the EU’s Be SpectACTive! project (2022). It premiered with a sold out run at Dublin Theatre Festival. Ping was mentored by Susanne Kennedy as part of Pan Pan’s 10th International Mentorship, exploring Cantonese opera. Recently Ping was part of Dublin Theatre Festival and Theatre Forum’s Next Stage programme. They are currently developing new work kindly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Wicklow County Council's Artist Award Scheme. They are also supported by the three year Propel Programme Award (2023) with Strollers Network, a partnership made up of ten arts centres across Ireland. As a theatre maker, Ping writes, directs, designs and often performs their own work. They combine surrealism, humour and socio-political engagement with innovative design. Ping is primarily inspired by their heritage and cross-cultural experiences, while examining language, colonialism and queerness. Studying Sociology and English Literature at Trinity College Dublin shaped their practice in that they usually begin with in-depth research and informal interviews. Ping was selected for Rough Magic’s inaugural Rough Ideas programme, presenting a work-in-progress of WANDER WANDER WILD WILD 遊遊野野 (2022). It was based on a news story to move 50,000 Hong Kong immigrants to a city in Ireland. WHERE ARE YOU FROM? (2019) was inspired by interviews with their father Chi Wai 子威, staged at the Abbey Theatre and Electric Picnic. MY LITTLE CHINA GIRL (2017) was a nine-hour long piece on the representations of East Asian women in Western media. Ping is also a former member of Dublin Youth Theatre. Ping sees design as an element that can feel as live as the performers onstage. They are especially interested in design-led work. Their past experience is mostly in theatre, but they are interested in live music, dance and opera. They have worked as an associate / assistant to designers such as Vicki Mortimer, Sabine Dargent and Nina Dunn. Ping also enjoys drawing and writing beyond theatre. Their poems have been published by Rookie Magazine.

Aoife McAtamney is a dancer, choreographer, musician, actor and teacher based in Dublin. Aoife trained on the D.A.N.C.E programme and studied apprenticeships with William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor, Angelin Preljocaj & Frederic Flamand. As a choreographer, she has been the recipient of numerous prizes and bursaries from the Arts Council and Culture Ireland and was Ireland's first female Aerowaves artist as part of the cohort of 2014 with her first solo Softer Swells - that subsequently toured internationally including to La Briqueterie in Vitry-sur-Seine and the Instances festival in Chalon-sur-Saône. In early 2020 Aoife graduated with an MA (1st) in songwriting at the University of Limerick. Aoife regularly teaches her vocal and movement practice, most recently at Solstice Arts Centre, University of Limerick, OD Dance and DanceIreland. Aoife cultivates a community arts practice exploring gender, ancestry and nature and from 2020 - 2022 Aoife was the lead movement artist for Dublin City Council Culture Company and her participation practice credits with ageing bodies of culture include CoisCéim Dance Theatre’s Broadreach and now Macushla Dance Club 50+. Notable collaborations include OneOneOne with Ioannis Mandafoundis and Egg Charade with Nina Vallon. Aoife has been touring with Oona Doherty as a vocalist and dancer for the performance ‘Lady Magma’ and dancing with choreographer Emma Martin in 'Night Dances'. Most recently performing with Laura Murphy, Theatre company OneTwoOneTwo and Mary Wycherley Dance. As an actor, Aoife can be seen in Paula Kehoe's TV documentary ‘The Devils In her’ alongside Olwen Fouéré for BBCNI and TG4 and in Woman In The Wall directed by Harry Wootliff for BBC & Showtime. Aoife has been funded by the Arts Council of Ireland to create her first record, Pink Breath and will develop its live performance during Choreography Connects, a collaboration with CoisCéim, OperaEstate/CSC, (Comune di Bassano, Italy) and Le Gymnase CDCN (France).

Draíocht is recognised as a creative hub and laboratory space and invests significantly in the development of artist's practice by the provision of benefit in kind support such as space, technical support, admin/marketing support and specialist expertise. We offer a wide range of opportunities to artists i.e. commissions, residencies, artist studios/rehearsal space, co-productions, co-commissions, seed funding, mentoring.

Our Artist Support Series, launched during Covid-19, has helped 79 artists in 2020, 50 artists in 2021 and 74 artists in 2022, with the provision of free rehearsal and creative space. Space to rehearse, write, create, film, dance, think & plan ... whatever is needed!

With thanks to our funders Fingal County Council & The Arts Council.

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