Dublin Dance Festival 2010

And they’re off! If you got a chance to strut your stuff at last night’s Bumper to Bumper headphone disco, you’ll already be in the mood for dance, and there’s a wealth of invigorating and inspirational shows to choose from over the next 2 weeks featuring artists from around the globe. Junk Ensemble’s new show Five Ways to Drown is at Project tonight and on Tue 11 &Wed 12 there’s a double bill from legendary US choreographer Yvonne Rainer: RoS Indexical which harks back to the passion and furore of The Rite of Spring premiere in 1913, and her latest work Spiraling Down.

Also in the opening week, emerging Italian choreographers are showcased in the Aerowaves double bill; from the US there’s Vicky Shick’s collaborative duet Repair, with a live sound score; and Heidi Latsky’s Gimp featuring performers with physical differences; Sunstruck from Australia, in which 2 virtuosic dancers respond to 2 live musicians and a rolling light; a solo and a duet from upcoming Canadian/UK choreographer Laila Diallo; and the world premiere of Rex Levitates’ Secondary Sources, exploring the influences in our bodies that come from people, places and events.

The festival’s Centrepiece Performance at the Samuel Beckett on Tue 17 &Wed 18 comes from the hugely influential German choreographer Raimund Hoghe: Young People, Old Voices juxtaposes the boisterousness of youthful dancers with end of career songs from Jacques Brel and Billie Holiday, building an increasingly poignant contrast between Hoghe and the 12 young cast members from Ireland and abroad. Other shows in week 2 include Caterina Sagna’s talk-based Basso Ostinato; Swimming With My Mother, featuring Coisceim’s David Bolger and his Mum – part of a double bill with Silvia Gribaudi’s ironic take on the female condition A Corpo Libero; and Carlotta Sagna’s Ad Vitam, probing the borders of normality and pathology.

There’s the world premiere of Tere O’Connor’s Day, created for Jean Butler, which moves away from her established world of Irish dance; and Dutch choreographer Beppie Blankert’s Double Track, based on Samuel Beckett’s Text for Nothing, which was originally created in 1986 to a commissioned score by Louis Andriessen. Crash Ensemble will open the show with a live performance of Double Track (Dubblelspoor). Flamenco takes centre stage in the festival’s Grand Finale at Vicar Street on Sun 23. This is the real thing from Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenco, gritty, authentic and passionate performances from an extraordinary ensemble of dancers, singers and guitarists led by the fiery multi-award-winning Soledad Barrio, the ‘Baryshnikov of flamenco’. www.dublindancefestival.ie