Luail, the new National Dance Company for Ireland, has announced the details of its inaugural season programme of productions, commissions, professional development opportunities and special projects.
Highlights of the 2025 programme include Chora, Luail's inaugural performance, opening Dublin Dance Festival’s 21st edition at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in May, before touring to National Opera House in Wexford, The Lyric Belfast and Cork Opera House in Cork.
A revival of Dancehall by choreographer Emma Martin will tour to seven venues during October and November; elsewhere, Reverb, a work for younger audiences by choreographer Sarah Golding, with music from Mayo-born composer and multi-instrumentalist Lisa Canny, features alongside Moonlight Dream, aimed at very young people and their families.
Live music and dance will share the stage for many of these productions, via partnerships with the Irish Chamber Orchestra led by Katherine Hunka, Andrew Hamilton and Crash Ensemble, Rossa Ó Snodaigh and Kíla and Ursula Burns, among others.
Luail will bring Moving in Collaboration – a professional development opportunity for local dance artists and musicians - to Limerick this summer with choreographer Jonathan Burrows and composers Mel Mercier and Judith Ring, while Dance 2 Connect Lab will roll out in Belfast and Limerick for the first time through a partnership with director and founder Matt Szczerek and Dance Ireland.
A new initiative of the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, with partners at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, UL and Maiden Voyage Dance in Belfast, Luail's remit is to 'embody, embed and empower dance on the island of Ireland, and to lead into a future that transforms how we make, know and experience it'.
Speaking at the programme announcement, Artistic Director of Luail, 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.
"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".
Find out more about Luail's inaugural programme here.
