Echo Echo Festival Presents
Artist Talks | Livestreamed Solos | Online Classes | Photo Retrospective
Monday 22nd - Saturday 27th February 2021
Online | Free | Donations Welcome
Welcome from Artistic Director
January 2021 brought the clear understanding that we would have to jettison all our planned live events. Even though we had, months ago, taken very careful decisions, to programme work that was as adaptable as possible to pandemic restrictions, it became obvious that events with live audiences of any size would be impossible. With new travel restrictions and work-place rules, even a livestream from a private house, which needed a cross border trip and a technical crew in a small space, wasn't going to be possible.
We really didn't want to create a dance-film event or to present filmed versions of performances which really ought to be presented live so we decided that the best idea was to build on what we have learned over the "lock-down" year and create a series of live online events.
For us the Echo Echo Festival of Dance and Movement is fundamentally a live event with real presence and proximity. So we aren't thinking of this as the eighth edition of our festival. We are producing the week of events under the title "Echo Echo Festival Presents" and we'll be using that banner for other events over the next twelve months.
The programme for the week will include online talks, with questions and answers, from all the artists who would have shown their work. There is a series of short, livestreamed, solo dance performances by artists of the Echo Echo Ensemble. There are also some classes, an opportunity to meet and question the whole Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company team about any aspect of the company's work and history, and an online gallery photographic retrospective of the past seven festivals created by Simon Alleyne.
The new works we commissioned aren't lost though. All of the artists whose work we had planned to present have agreed to bring the performances to us later in 2021 or early 2022 when pandemic restrictions have been lifted enough for that to be done responsibly. We hope the online talks will whet the appetite for that.
Please check out the details of what we are offering and join us online for some of the events, and don't hesitate to contact us if you want to know more.
All the best to everyone
Steve Batts
Artistic Director
Festival Programme
Click image above for pdf brochure.
Monday 22nd February
- 12noon – 14.00 (Class) - Phrasing with Echo Echo Artistic Director, Steve Batts.
- 19.00 - 19.15 – Ayesha Mailey of the Echo Echo Ensemble performs a livestream solo improvisation performance.
- 20.00 – 21.00 – Artist talk by Caroline Bowditch (Melbourne) and Linda Fearon (Armargh) about their work-in-progress Armour Off, exploring the notions of outer and inner self.
Tuesday 23rd February
- 19.00 - 19.15 – Kelly Quigley of the Echo Echo Ensemble performs a livestream solo improvisation performance.
- 20.00 – 21.00 – Artist talk by Kate Wilson (Sligo) discussing the development of her piece Folds of the Soul / Portraits in Time, a collaboration with three dance artists in integrated processes of improvised dance duet and portraiture in charcoal and oil paint.
Wednesday 24th February
- 12 noon – 13.00 - (Class) – Movement Games for all the Family! with Zoe and Tonya from the Echo Echo Ensemble.
- 19.00 - 19.15 – Zoe Ramsey of the Echo Echo Ensemble performs a livestream solo improvisation performance.
- 20.00 – 21.00 – Artist talk by Suzannah McCreight (Belfast) & Nick Boyle reflecting on her work-in-progress Peregrine and the relationship between dance and music.
Thursday 25th February
- 19.00 - 19.15 – Tonya Sheina of the Echo Echo Ensemble performs a livestream solo improvisation performance.
- 20.00 – 21.00 – Artist talk by Natasha Bourke (Cork) about her interdisciplinary site-specific work ‘Testuro Utero Go! Litter Womb’ and issues of human existence in a bubble.
Friday 26th February
- 12noon -13.30 – (Class) Gentle Movement for 50+ year olds with Tonya and Zoe from the Echo Echo Ensemble.
- 19.00 - 19.15 – Artistic Director of Echo Echo, Steve Batts performs a livestream solo improvisation performance.
- 20.00 – 21.00 - Artist talk by Echo Echo Ensemble member Zoe Ramsey, about her festival commission ‘Dance, for Dance Sake’ (working title), and the joy of dancing.
Saturday 27th February
- 14.00 – 16.00 – Echo Echo “Open for Questions” online.
22nd – 27th February
- Photographic Retrospective Online Gallery - A retrospective exhibition of Simon Alleyne’s beautiful images of Echo Echo’s past seven festivals 2013 - 2019 | https://www.simonalleyne.com/gallery
Echo Echo Festival Team
Company Manager – Ailbe Beirne
Development Officer – Anna Nolan
Technical Manager – Barry Davis
Echo Echo Ensemble – Ayesha Mailey, Kelly Quigley, Zoe Ramsey, Tonya Sheina
Video and Photography – Simon Alleyne
Publicity artwork and design – Ciaran Harley at zoocreative
Board of Directors – Deirdre Gillespie, Esther Alleyne, Mandy Blinco, Cath McBride
Festival Thanks
Thank you to our principal funders, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Derry City and Strabane District Council; special mentions for Caoileann Curry-Thompson and team at ACNI and to Jacqueline Whoriskey, John Kerr and all of the team at Council for their flexibility and support. Thanks to all of the
previous Festival funders and supporters over the last eight years.
Thanks to all of the Echo Echo staff, ensemble and directors for their commitment and perseverance during what has been a hugely challenging time for the arts and for society as a whole.
Finally, thanks to you – our audiences, colleagues, friends and family for your continued support!
