Artist Talk - Suzannah McCreight and Nick Boyle
Belfast Artist Suzannah McCreight will give insight into the development of her work in progress ‘Peregrine’ which explores the relationship between dance and music.
Choreographer/dancer Suzannah McCreight and composer/pianist Nick Boyle, dance and play together like visitors exploring the space, looking for somewhere to settle. The pianist sits at his instrument, the dancer listens for the music and follows its lead. In this suite of four solos, each short piece suggests a new connection to the space, inviting a fresh response from the dancer to the music.
Peregrine emerges from collaborative conversations about the relationship of dance and music. The art of listening is informing the development of the movement, which is leading towards free and playful dancing that follows the music’s melodies as they weave, pull, soar and tumble through the space.
The artists will explain their creative journey and their evolving reflections about how music and dance interact.
Suzannah McCreight is a Belfast-based performer, choreographer and contemporary dance tutor. Commissions have included pieces for Maiden Voyage, Open Arts (Belfast), BBC/Imagine Media, De Stilte (Holland), and Springs Dance Company (London). Suzannah discovered contemporary dance in the Cornwall and National Youth Dance Companies in England before training at TrinityLaban on the BA and MA programmes. She then danced for Transitions, Scottish Dance Theatre, Cathy Seago, Springs, Attik and Maiden Voyage. She has taught at TrinityLaban, University of Ulster and Belfast Metropolitan College and was rehearsal director for BareBones in Birmingham. The commission for Echo Echo Festival 2021 has enabled her to collaborate with Nick Boyle, who she first met creating for Terra Nova’s ‘Dream’ production.
Nick Boyle is a composer and pianist who has worked extensively in theatre. His musical, ‘The Jazzabelles’ (2016/18) sold out throughout NI. He was MD and composer of two of the largest intercultural productions undertaken in Northern Ireland ‘The Belfast Tempest’ (2016) and ‘Dream’ (2019). Working with Ian Sansom and Wireless Mystery Theatre he was composer of ‘Play of the Book’ (2013) and arranger and MD for BBC NI’s ‘Sing Carols’ (2012). He wrote the music for the ‘Wish You Were Here Documentary’ (2020) conceived and directed by Grace Sweeney and Laura O’Connor.
Artist Talks
Join us online for a series of conversations exploring the creative practice and ideas of each of the artists who would have presented work at our festival had pandemic circumstances allowed. Steve Batts will interview Caroline Bowditch (Aus) and Linda Fearon (Armagh), Kate Wilson (Sligo), Suzannah McCreight (Belfast), Natasha Bourke (Cork) and Zoe Ramsey (Derry) to find out more about the work they were making for the Echo Echo Festival their personal history, work practice and ideas, and the ways they have adapted to "Covid Times". We hope these talks will whet the appetite for when we are in a position to present the performances properly, hopefully in the not too distant future.
You can join the conversation with questions and comments towards the end of each interview. If you have a question you would like to submit beforehand please email: steve@echoechodance.com and put "artist talks" and the name of the artist in the subject line.
Echo Echo Festival Presents
Zoom link for all events
Passcode: 661561
Programme pdf
Thanks
Echo Echo Festival Presents is kindly supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the National Lottery through ACNI, and Derry City and Strabane District Council.