ABOUT
DUBLIN DANCE FESTIVAL: OONA DOHERTY'S HARD TO BE SOFT - A BELFAST PRAYER
A Bright White Limbo.
Four Episodes… like Sci Fi Stations of the Cross.
An Alternative Reality.
Belfast.
Trailblazing dancer and
choreographer Oona Doherty, in collaboration with renowned DJ and composer David Holmes and designer Ciaran Bagnall, presents Hard To Be Soft – A Belfast Prayer. A
reflection on their hometown, this four-part dance work is based on the
experiences and realities of living in today’s Belfast.
Exploring masculinity,
sectarianism, culture, class and sexuality, Doherty abstracts the memories of
her youth to create a physical prayer; a celebration of all that we have and an
invocation for all that we are missing. This powerful new piece features a unique
cast of performers, including nine
Hip-Hop dancers from Belfast’s Ajendance Youth Dance Company.
A prodigious talent, Doherty has garnered
international attention as one of Europe’s most gifted and promising dance
artists, most recently winning the Total Theatre Award for Dance at the 2017
Edinburgh Festival Fringe and receiving rave reviews for her standout
performance in Enda Walsh’s Arlington.