After All – Solène Weinachter

This presentation is part of a three-venue Regional Dance Network Tour to Tipperary International Dance Festival (Thurles), Uillinn Dance Season (Skibbereen) and Dance Cork Firkin Crane.

AFTER ALL is a new 60-minute solo dance-theatre production created by Dundee-based French contemporary dance and performance artist Solène Weinachter. Melding dance, comedy, storytelling and theatre Solène explores the different death rituals we have - the ones we’ve lost and those that need inventing to ask audiences: what happens in the end?

Using the framework of re-enacting her own funeral, AFTER ALL invites the audience to ponder their own mortality as well as exploring how to celebrate life. This re-enactment weaves through rituals practiced by our ancestors that supported the process of grieving the passing of the dead (the wake, keening) as well as imagining new ones.

On arrival audiences are greeted by Solène, the performance shares a series of impassioned re-enactments of the funerals of those she's loved - as well as imagining her own and by doing so Solène attempts to conjure a better sort of space for all of us to be with death, dying and loss.

Working on AFTER ALL involved research through books, links, podcasts and a journey (together with artist, bodyworker and celebrant Lisa Fannen) into vital and life affirming exchanges with people working in all sorts of incredible ways in the terrain of death and dying. Again and again they heard people comment on how little we generally get to speak and share about this profound territory.

AFTER ALL seeks to open space for these kinds of conversations to happen more, as part of wider social change.

Soléne will teach a professional class at 11am and host Cork Death Café at 6pm on Wednesday 16 October 2024

Suitable for 12yrs+

Director & Performer Solène Weinachter
Scenographer Matthias Strahm
Lighting Design & Production Manager Emma Jones
Filmmaker Rachel Bunce
Script Adviser & Dramaturgy Chris Thorpe
Artist Companion & Dramaturgy Neil Callaghan
Outside Eye & Engagement Lisa Fannen
Producer Helen McIntosh
Production & Stage Manager Amy Steadman
Documentation Genevieve Reeves
BSL performance Interpreter Yvonne Strain
Audio Description Raquel Meseguer & Laura Dannequin
Marketing & Communications Karen Steel
PR Storytelling PR

Supported by Creative Scotland, Made in Scotland, British Council, Dance North, Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre, The Work Room, Dance Base, The Space.

Solène Weinachter is an independent dancer and choreographer based in Scotland. Her artistic practice is rooted in the intersection between dance, theatre, story telling, humour and what could appear as uncomfortable conversations. Solène trained in the regional conservatoire of Lyon and then pursued her training at London Contemporary Dance School where she obtained a BA(Hons) and an MA in contemporary dance and performance. Her interest as a performer is rooted in the connection with the audience. Story-telling, dance, and laughter have been in the centre of her work since 2013. She has worked with a wide range of dance and physical theatre companies in Europe including: Scottish Dance Theatre, Lost Dog, Joan Clevillé, Gecko Theatre Company, Vera Tussing and most recently Oona Doherty. She is also a founding member of Collective Endeavours, a Glasgow-based music and dance improvisation collective. Her current projects are Antigone, Interrupted by Joan Clevillé, and a touring production of Juliet & Romeo by Ben Duke.