Dan Colley & Mary Lou McCarthy Awarded Draíocht’s CCI Residency Award 2018/2019

Draíocht is delighted to continue our partnership with CCI, supporting an artist to travel to Paris to participate in the 2018/2019 Residency Programme, tapping into the resources of the CCI and the city of Paris, as well as having the opportunity to showcase their work on an international stage. The recipients of Draíocht supported residencies are artists working in any discipline with a clear focus on children and/or young people.

I will be working on “Dance Plague” a dance/theatre piece aimed at teenagers, which is being co-produced by Draíocht and my company Collapsing Horse. This piece cam about from our residecy in Draíocht over the last three years, collaborating with various artists including Liv O'Donoghue, Paul McDonnell, Dylan Coburn Gray and the members of d15 Youth Theatre. The show is about bodies, autonomy, fitting into society and one’s own skin. My aim is to create an innovative formal mix of dance and theatre that will speak to a first-time dance audience.

It’s partly inspired by the work of dancer Isadora Duncan, who rejected the rigid aesthetic of ballet, making a virtue of movement that’s natural and enjoyable for the body to perform. She lived in Paris for a time and founded a dance school on Rue Danton. She was notorious for dancing from 5am in the Luxembourg Gardens and spending hours in the Louvre. She was a muse of the sculptor Auguste Rodin, and they were kindred spirits in their interest for the human body as it appears in nature.

During my time in Paris I will research and write the material for the show. I will retrace Isadora's steps; visiting the Rodin museum and see his sketches of her and consider what so deeply connected the two artists. Paris also offers another level of dance and ensemble-based work which I can be exposed to. While I am there I will see productions in Opera Paris, Theatre du Soleil and Theatre du Ville among others.
I'm delighted and honoured to have been chosen for this residency at the CCI with Draíocht.

In 2019 actor and writer Mary-Lou McCarthy will be artist in residence at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris with the support of Draíocht. As part of her residency she will be developing a show for young audiences aged 10-12 years entitled, “The Dead Letter Office”. While in Paris, she will be researching the French Postal system and the history of the Dead Letter Office in Europe. Mary-Lou will be working with Paris based director John McIlduff during her stay at CCI.