Fionnuala will be working in collaboration with Musician Niamh Dalton, & dance artists Roberta Ceginskaite & Grace Cuny on ‘Thin Places’. This work uses contemporary dance & live sound to consider the potential to find connection & joy in the face of loss. Questioning if individual grief can be a catalyst for collective understanding & action. Fionnuala is curious about the cross over between collaborative artistic skill sets & on the ground political activism & community organising, this is a common thread throughout her creative practice & life. 

‘Thin Places’ is supported by an Arts Council of Ireland Bursary, Galway Dance, Galway City Council, and Uilleann Arts Centre.

“I'm currently researching my new work 'Please Break my Heart,' a dance solo fused with film, theatre and comedy that I'll create and perform.

It delves into the romantic storylines and troupes that mould the connections we strive for. But this love story centres around the quest for true love to discover how it feels to have your heart truly broken. Becoming so consumed with understanding what Taylor Swift, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen and all the greats are talking about, forgetting to fall in love first.

Saturated with drama, elegance and chaos. A woman marching towards a broken heart to understand what this endless pit of inspiration for writers, singers and makers that calls itself heartbreak? It seems to make a good piece you must be heartbroken.“

“GREY delves into the terrain of the human body and the "grey space" we occupy when breaking free from societal labels and constraints. The work uses Kundalini breathing techniques to inform movement patterns, grounding the two performers as they explore the grey area beyond rigid, binary thinking around sexuality, gender and identity. The central question I am exploring with this piece is "What uncharted terrain emerges when societal norms and gender constructs are left behind?" Shawbrook's natural environment, with its lush forests and outdoor stage, is the perfect setting to elevate these themes. It would provide the ideal space to push GREY to its next level, transforming it into a performance-ready work.

This residency would also hold deep personal significance. My collaborator, Aphra who studied at Shawbrook during its ballet school days. Developing our first duet here would merge our creative journeys in a place with profound meaning for both of us. A two-week residency would give us the time, space, and resources to refine GREY for film while experimenting with site-specific movement that interacts with the natural landscape. The outdoor forest stage would deepen our exploration of freedom and boundaries.”

In the residency, Anne will continue developing the solo performance SWAMP, which is an exploration of swamp landscapes as a metaphor for and a place of memories. Swamp and memory can be seen as a container in which more and more is accumulated over time. Thus our memory space becomes increasingly narrow, forcing us to constantly reorganise our memories. SWAMP builds on the research project ROOTING MIND, realised in 2021 and is driven by the desire to delve into the complexity and multi-layered nature of memory processes.

Anne will work with the internalisation and embodiment of certain characteristics of the triad of water, plants and earth as well as with flashbacks and repression as a special form of memory. Text fragments and lipsynch performance will be part of that process.

“This residency allows me to follow up on the residency I did last Summer where I shot a lot of my first non-narrative feature film, Lac Caninum (previously called 'In The Mouth of a Lake'). My film explores unusual dynamics between mother and daughter in an ambiguous reality or world which is rooted in nature. The film is an autobiographical abstraction of the dynamics that existed between myself and my mother before she passed away at the age of 47. During my 2024 residency I filmed all the scenes with the Mother, played by Justine Cooper. We have since shot some additional scenes featuring both Mother and Daughter together in the coastal setting of West Cork. This June we will film the final duo scenes again in West Cork. This will leave just the final scenes to be filmed, which are the Daughter's solo scenes which are being played by Venetia Bowe. I want to be able to film the daughter's solo scenes in the same setting as the Mother's solo scenes, predominantly in the woods and surrounds at Shawbrook.”

SPREAD is a new Dance Theatre work by emerging dance maker Adam O'Reilly, which began development in 2023. SPREAD takes a deep dive into the 'young and Irish' lived experience from a number of varying nuanced perspectives. With the conversation around young people becoming ever more topical in various aspects of Irish society, this work seeks to offer a realised point of view on youth culture within Ireland and return the conversation about the youth back to the youth. SPREAD serves as a commentary on current day Irish society as well as wider sociopolitical aspects related to the role of young people in Ireland. During this final R&D period for SPREAD Adam intends to work collaboratively in order to establish both clear points of connection and shared/collective experience, as well as conflicting experience or perspective dependent or a variety of factors relevant to each individual young performers personal identity.

“Over the residency I will work with Singaporean dancer and choreographer Zee Zunnur to begin creating a 15-20 minute duet with sound by Australian composer Louis Frere-Harvey who will be working remotely. The focus of the residency will be exploring the concept of what it means to be alone inspired by poet David Whyte’s essay “Alone” from his book Consolations.

“To find ourselves alone or to be left alone is an ever-present, fearful and abiding human potentiality of which we are often unconsciously, and deeply, afraid.” - David Whyte “Alone" essay

This experience is one every human can connect to and reflect over moments through out their life they have felt truly alone. The fear when one has been let alone, or realisation when one feels alone whilst in a room full of people and also the choice to be alone as an active decision isolating from others. These are some of the concepts we will explore whilst documenting the process on video to share with the community of Shawbrook.”

“This residency would provide a vital space for us to further explore the themes of our piece, The In Between.

The In Between examines the tension between self-presentation and intimacy, the public and the private. Through a dynamic interplay of opposing forces, the piece gradually sheds layers—both physically and conceptually—creating a liminal space of transformation. Drawing from personal biographies and pop culture, the choreography blends playful, sensual, and instinctual movement, oscillating between control and disintegration.

As the work unfolds, it undergoes a metamorphosis, peeling away layers of stylized, pop-culture-inspired movement to reveal something raw, animalistic, and instinctive. In this process, we seek to incorporate a ritualistic element—one that reflects a deep connection to place and presence.

Shawbrook’s setting, surrounded by nature and immersed in stillness, deeply inspires me. This environment offers the rootedness and purity I wish to explore in the work, providing a space where we can enter a heightened mental and physical state.“

“Our residency at Shawbrook will be a practice in creative immersion and collaborative exploration. Typically, our processes are slow and detail-oriented, with time spent refining small gestures and waiting for sparks to propel pieces forward. In performance, we often rely on extensive setups to render our work live.

During this residency, we aim to challenge ourselves by doing more with less—creating music and movement that retain rawness and immediacy by embracing improvisation and simplicity. Our guiding direction is inspired by Adrienne Maree Brown’s idea: “small is good, small is all, the large is a reflection of the small.” With the world at a critical juncture socially, politically, and environmentally, we are interested in exploring how small gestures—whether sonic, emotional, or physical—ripple outward to create larger impact. This ethos will guide our decisions as we explore Shawbrook through movement and sound, developing an embodied relationship with the land through observation and play.”

“Taking inspiration from W.B. Yeats’ experimental Four Plays for Dancers, I propose to develop an ambitious, new dance theatre creation in collaboration with one of Ireland's foremost contemporary playwrights, Marina Carr and a group of superb dance artists.

With a mixed discipline cast of actors, dancers and musicians performing supernatural, allegorical tales featuring mythical characters, Yeats described his plays for dancers as a mystical and innovative ‘form of drama.. distinguished, indirect and symbolic.’ In the spirit of Yeats’ vision, we will draw on the mythology of Mnemosyne, Greek goddess of memory, mother of the nine muses and guardian of the oral tradition. The research will explore how we remember and why we forget. Words will dance and dance will speak, as neither medium vies for supremacy and both are equal to the task of translating experience.”

“Bystander is a contemporary dance work exploring the rise of LGBTQ+ hate crime in the UK. Born from both personal and collective experiences, the project aims to provide a platform for LGBTQ+ dancers, audiences, and communities to reflect on the impact of sexual-orientation and gender identity-based violence. Through dance, it will offer audiences reflection, encourage intervention and solidarity, and emphasise the importance of collective action. Rather than reliving trauma, the work seeks to explore support, community, and healing through touch, human communication, and action. Having been a victim of a violent hate crime in early 2023, this work is not autobiographical or narrative but to offer personal experience mixed with research and community narratives to address both individual and collective trauma and transform it into shared responsibility for the queer body.”

During Cian’s residency he will work on a show in development - CHOP - Through humor, physical comedy, and storytelling, CHOP explores the profound impact of human actions on the environment, intertwining themes of loss, resilience, and the inherent connection between humanity and nature.

While at Shawbrook Cian will create new material with a focus on tree's, building a story around trees, their sacredness, their abundant uses and work with collaborators exploring movement and materials. He will spend time in the woodland to allow the natural setting to have inspiration and effect on the creation process. Utilising the surrounding forest and outdoor stage

Cian will build on previous developmental stages material, rehearse, refine and work towards a performance.

Astrid will use her two-week residency at Shawbrook to start her first phase of research for a new solo work in collaboration with a musician and dramaturg.

“My proposed research involves investigating the rhythmic nuances and the symbiotic relationship between Irish dance tap shoes/rythmic footwork and various surfaces such as wood, plastic, and earth. Beyond the physicality, these shoes hold symbolic significance, acting as a vessel between the performer and the ground beneath. By examining the acoustics of Irish dance shoes on different grounds, I aim to evoke a sense of diaspora, of longing, projection and struggling to belong.

Additionally, I want to explore the idea of failure—of failing to meet, become, or achieve certain standards—within a dance form with such a specific identity and parameters. How can my dancing body from ten years ago coexist with its current form? How might I approach these shoes from a new perspective, free from their original purpose, expectations, and imposed techniques? How can irish dance exist in a fluid form?”

FREE Sharing Thursday 27th March @7.30pm

Robyn will return to Shawbrook to complete Queen of the Meadows. Research for this show began in Shawbrook and last year Robyn used her 2024 residency to focus on sound design and choreography.

During her 2025 residency, she will focus on the remaining design elements—set, costume, and lighting—and how they can enhance and transform the choreography.

“Specifically, I want the set to interact with the movement, incorporating design elements directly into the performance. This phase will be crucial in shaping the final version of the show before our preview at Backstage Theatre on April 17, 2025.”

PREVIEW Thursday 17th April Backstage Theatre Longford

Symmetry Circus is a contemporary, street theatre and circus company based in the Irish midlands. Their aim is to create accessible and exciting, comedic, ground based street theatre which is influenced by themes of science and the natural world.

“We want to investigate an idea for a new interactive street performance which will fuse prop manipulation, physical theatre, dance and crowd interaction. The basis of this idea is to investigate a wheelbarrow as a center piece, this is an object of great functionality and we aim to celebrate it and also create an accessible piece of work which will engage and also enable the audience to get involved.

We have chosen a wheelbarrow as it relatable, multi cultural and commonplace. Taking this object which is often overlooked and placing it into a another context we can see it in a new way and reappreciate it for all that it does and also look at it in new ways.”

FREE Sharing Thursday 24th April @7.30pm

Luncheonette is a long term art project centred around hospitality and food, started by Jennie Moran in 2013.

It is a prolonged exploration into the complex alchemy of placemaking, centred around the provision of shared experiences using nourishment, shelter, comfort, warmth, light, and tone to treat places so that they feel easier for people to be in and more poetic.

“We have to work on a piece called ‘The Story of Hospitality’.

This is a multidisciplinary essay about the origins of humans welcoming each other; the roots of this poetic practice, the risks involved, the philosophy behind it, the strict rules, the honour attached to it, the folklore that surrounds it. There is an urgency around highlighting the beauty, pride and humanity of the practice of hospitality. Conflicts and climate emergencies require us to take a more active role in looking after each other and indeed our planet. ‘The Story of Hospitality’ is a reminder that welcoming others is in our DNA. It is a gut instinct that we humans have for generosity and coexistence. We need to make sure this story is relatable and captivating.”

FREE Sharing Thursday 8th May @7.30pm