" We arrange to meet while the tide is out. Starting high up on the cliff, we make our way down the cliff side. Moving in silence, I notice the sounds surrounding us and the rhythm of our steps. We pause every now and again and a memory, a tale, a fact, or a direction is shared. We continue moving downwards and I’m following a path I’ve never been down before. As I’m moving along this well-trodden path and, as I catch a glimpse of a tall ship out at sea, a strong sense of times and people past comes over me. We arrive at the beach and the open expanse of water is cleansing. As I look back up to the top of the cliff, the depth of the land seems intensified and my feet feel rooted. Its force is pushing me towards the ground, as if I am part of it. "
RESIDENCY.
This is the place where dance artist Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín is making a new piece of work. She has been walking this path every day for the past two weeks, acquainting herself with the landscape and its many faces. Sometimes, she asks a member of the local community to join her and invites them to share their memories, knowledge, and feelings of the place. Every story, comment, and pause is individual and through gathering them all together, Siobhán has developed a deep and broad understanding and relationship with Folkestone.
As well as learning about the town through the people that live here, it is also important to Siobhán that she has her own direct and pure relationship with the place that exists outside of all she has learnt and heard. Early in the morning, while the tide is far out, is when Siobhán has been feeling her own way through the landscape. The textures, materials, forms, and sounds informing the movement of her body.
ABOUT THE ARTIST.
As a dance artist, Siobhán creates ‘in-situ and often improvisational works based on her experiences, emotions, representative habitual landscapes or are responses to natural surroundings.’ She says that ‘her personal relationships with the ever-changing and tangibility of her landscapes are pivotal – as are elements of raw choreographed touch; the response as subtle an experience as the viewer’s observation of the journey.’
For this new work, Siobhán is creating a new dance film in collaboration with filmmaker and artist Gemma Riggs who has previously worked in Folkestone, producing the work ‘Folkestone Moves’ for the Folkestone Fringe Triennial programme in 2014. Siobhán’s final sharing event- when you can see the film, the culmination of her research, relationships made in Folkestone and to discuss the topics raised- took place on Thursday 12th July.
Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín, from Cork City, Ireland,is an emerging artist on the MagiC Carpets Creative Europe Exchange Platform, put forward by EVA International. Siobhán has been invited to take part in a residency by Folkestone Fringe during the summer of 2018.
