Luail, Ireland’s all-island dance company, has this week shared its inaugural programme, for the 2025 season. Established in 2024, Luail – meaning movement or motion in Irish – will this year present a programme of newly commissioned dance works, professional development opportunities and partnerships with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, composers Andrew Hamilton, Lisa Canny, Rossa Ó Snodaigh and Kíla, and more.

Commenting on the inaugural programme, Artistic Director Liz Roche said:

This programme presents works and events that explore shared spaces and what that means in our society and our world today. These aren’t just physical spaces, but spaces where the complexities of memory, emotion, and landscape collide, spaces where artists and audiences meet, and where something transformative can emerge. We will be in theatres, on the streets, in fields and in town centres providing meeting places through dance where new and unexpected experiences can happen. 

She added: ‘Over the next twelve months – through the boundless talents of our company of dancers, along our collective of resident dance makers, musicians and artists, our productions and projects invite our audiences to consider and celebrate these shared spaces.’

The season opens in February with Bridging by choreographer Amir Sabra in collaboration with Ó Snodaigh, members of Kíla and students from the MA Contemporary Dance Performance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick. The work was commissioned in 2024 by Luail to mark the company’s foundational partnership with the academy and inspired by the Living Bridge at the academy. Bridging will be performed at Dance Cork Firkin Crane on 15 February and at Dance Limerick on 21 February.

Bridging (photo: Luail)

In March, Georgia Tegou’s Moonlight Dream, a co-commission by Maiden Voyage Dance and Luail for infants and children aged 0–3 years, will be presented as part of Belfast’s Children Festival (7–9 March). Accompanied by a music suite for piano and harp performed live by composer Ursula Burns, the work explores a world of dreams and the night sky. 

Opening Dublin Dance Festival
Luail will open this year’s Dublin Dance Festival with its first major production, Chora, performed by the company’s ensemble with the Irish Chamber Orchestra at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on 13 May. Taking inspiration from the ancient Greek concept of ‘chora’, meaning a space that is both physical and abstract, the production includes three works that draw on themes of memory and landscape: Contain Multitudes by choreographers Maria Campos and Guy Nader, Constellations by Liz Roche, and Invocation by Mufutau Yusuf. After the premiere in Dublin, Chora will be performed in Wexford (16 May), Belfast (18 May) and Cork (28 May).

In September, Luail will present Reverb by Sarah Golding with music by Lisa Canny. The work will feature the company’s dancers performing alongside Canny and musicians Josh Sampson and Laura Doherty. The production combines the physicality of the dancers’ movements with Canny’s vocals and sounds that blend traditional with modern. Reverb will tour across the country to venues in Dublin (11–12 September), Armagh (17 September), Dundalk (19 September), Longford (22 September), Newbridge (24 September), Sligo (30 September), Castlebar (2 October) and Limerick (10 October).

In October, the company will present choreographer Emma Martin’s 2015 work Dancehall, featuring music by Andrew Hamilton performed by Crash Ensemble. The production will travel to Belfast (15 October), Donegal (18 October), Cork (21 October), Dublin (23–24 October), Galway (21 October), Limerick (1 November) and Longford (29 November). Luail will also present Impasse by choreographer Mufutau Yusuf, a work that challenges the historical racial projections of blackness and features a score by Tom Lane and Mick Donohoe. The work will be performed later this year, with dates yet to be announced.

To This I Belong
To This I Belong is a year-long project by the company, taking place in locations across the four provinces of Ireland, celebrating themes of home, landscape and community. Luail has commissioned works by four dance artists for this project – Edwina Guckian (Leitrim), Lucia Kickham (Wexford), Dylan Quinn (Enniskillen) and Tobi Omoteso (Limerick). From 30 April to 1 May, Sclimpíní by Guckian celebrates the festival of Bealtaine in Leitrim through storytelling, music and dance. Created in collaboration with actor Mikel Murfi, the work also includes music by fiddle player Ultan O’Brien, traditional singer Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin and harpist Laoise Kelly, and also features young, local dancers. The location of the performances has not yet been announced. Walk With Me by Kickham celebrates the spring equinox and will be performed by Luail’s ensemble dancers in Enniscorthy (23 March); Dance Corner by Fermanagh based dance-artist Dylan Quinn will invite members of the public to participate in locations across the nine counties of Ulster (June–August 2025); and the details of Omoteso’s work are yet to be announced.

Sclimpíní (photo: Cían Flynn)

Opportunities
Luail will also provide a number of opportunities for dance artists this year, including Dance 2 Connect, a professional development series with Dance Ireland in March and April with workshops in Limerick, Dublin and Belfast. Applications are currently being accepted and the deadline is 13 February. 

The company is also partnering with the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick to offer two company placements for students of the MA in Contemporary Dance Performance, starting from September 2025. The opportunity will allow the students to undertake up to two semesters with the company as a significant part of their study. 

For more information, visit luail.ie/whats-on/.

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