Rachel Sheil

During this residency, Rachel will propose daily tasks in order to generate movement in different ways. This will involve using Street Dance movement skills and Contemporary Dance approaches to draw out movement from unlikely places.

For example:

● A detailed live action depiction of a comic book strip, mimicking the exact postures that are impossible for the human body to replicate, but interesting to observe the movement qualities that emerge.

● Listening to monologues from animated films and creating movement to them. Most of the time, these passages of speech have a strong rhythm to them and a melody/music threaded throughout. She will use whatever skills are at her disposal in the moment to highlight those qualities.

● Making movement and lip-synching (engaging the face as part of the dancing body) to a chosen song, then removing the song and observing the result when enacted in silence.

● Delving into childhood references such as advertisements she watched growing up/cartoons consumed/intros to TV shows etc., and pulling them apart to find the bizarre and absurd within them.

● Analysing the movement of animated characters and figuring out how close to, and also how far away, they are from her own human movement.

Rachel considers herself a defender of joy and this consistently comes up in the work. She believes in the power of humour, entertainment and fun to make distinctive and meaningful Contemporary dance work. Yet that still means she take these elements seriously, and put it through a rigorous artistic inquiry.

Trained with a BA and MA in Contemporary Dance, Rachel also received an ADPA in Street Dance from Urban Strides, London. She is a teacher, performer and choreographer based in Limerick City. Most recently, Rachel performed her solo What to Say… at the What Next Festival 2023. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Limerick Youth Dance Company. She is passionate about the accessibility of Contemporary dance and wants to invite people into a world of fantasy through her work.

There will be a public sharing on Friday 6 October at 5pm, please RSVP boxoffice@firkincrane.ie to reserve your place