Professional Class with Magdalena Hylak

This class takes an experimental approach to movement, blending high physicality, repetition, and a deep exploration of sound/music. Dancers will engage with unconventional movement languages, pushing boundaries and expanding their physical and creative limits.

The class encourages discovery through repetition and highly physical movement, while refining movement precision. With a focus on integrating sound and music into the physical experience, participants will build endurance and develop a heightened awareness of the interplay between sound and movement. Emphasising performative skills, the class fosters a dynamic environment where dancers can experiment with new forms of expression. This unique approach creates a platform for dancers to push artistic boundaries and discover new dimensions of their craft.

Magdalena Hylak is a dance artist based in Ireland. She began her professional career in 2011 by working with Michael Keegan Dolan (IE), Liz Roche (IE) and Lea Anderson (UK) as part of Step Up Dance Project. She worked with Ríonach Ní Néill (IE), Catherine Young Dance (IE), Emma Martin (IE) and Akiko Kitamura (JP) before starting touring nationally and internationally with John Scott | Irish Modern Dance Theatre (IE) and Nacera Belaza (FR), as a core collaborator, with over 220 performances across 14 countries.

Since 2021, she has been developing her own body of work, where she questions the notion of performance. At the core of her research is the movement and sound outside of the question of style/genre or technique, the exploration of spaces in-between and the relationships and tensions between public and personal, inside and outside, visible and invisible.

In 2022, with associated composer Lionel Kasparian, she created A DANCE, an ongoing artistic research through raw movement and sound that translates into public performances in unconventional spaces, which found its way to festivals in Ireland, France and Luxembourg across 2023-2025. She’s currently working on her first ensemble piece, which will be shown at Dance Limerick in September.

Magdalena has been commissioned by Galway Dance Days (2012), Galway Dance Project (2016, 2020, 2021), Clifden Arts Festival (2022, 2023) and Tipperary Dance International Festival (2023).

She is the recipient of funding from the Arts Council of Ireland (Agility Award 2021; Commission Award-GDP 2021; Dance Bursary Award 2022, 2023; Project Award 2026), the Galway County Council (Artist Support Scheme 2022, 2024) and the National Dance Residency Partnership 2023. She has been Galway Dance Artist in Residence since 2023 (Dance Artist Residency Scheme 2023-2026). She is Dance Limerick’s Associate Artist for 2026.