Weekly Professional Class with Natasha Bourke

After taking some time to land and open up awareness, via selected physical, breath and vocal exercises from my practice, I will invite us into playful movement and sounding inquiry. In our musing, I will offer guided prompts embracing quality, range, isolation, sounding, balance, weight, tone, counterpoint, transition and observation.

Natasha Bourke is an interdisciplinary artist of Irish/Dutch descent with a fine art and extensive movement background (in contemporary, body weather, butoh, poetic/authentic movement, breakdance, folk, jazz, ballet, tightrope, vertical/aerial dance, acrobatics, physical theatre, mime, clown, object manipulation, swimming, rowing, yoga and tai chi). Her practice spans performance, film, photography, installation, archive, text, drawing and sound to contemplate themes in a surreal, playful and sincere way. She is an Outlaw and Sample Studios member, an Arts Council Next Generation Artist and has been recipient of several Arts council, City council and other awards. Since 2009, Bourke has created a large body of live/filmic works, including boat-based T.U.G! Litter Womb on Lough Foyle, Derry for EchoEcho 2021 and her feature Concrete Keys which had a sell out premiere at Cork International Film festival 2022 with subsequent screenings at IFI, SIRIUS, Triskel Cinema, Midleton Arts and Experimental Dance Music Film festivals. Bourke recently unveiled a new multidisciplinary swimming pool-based one-woman performance vision, Kilter, Matter and Ghosts, at the Gus Healy swimming pool as part of Cork Midsummer Festival 2024. It had a sell-out 4 night run and featured on RTE Radio Arena, The Examiner, Tripe & Drisheen and Circostrada French Arts publication. Bourke is in the early research stages of developing a new moving image work in association with the Sirius Arts Centre examining Identity and erasure.