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Through the figure of the Fairy, both the dubious beings from Irish folklore and indeed a slur used against queer people, Away with the Faeries rewrites Declan’s personal history with Irish dance. In playful choreographies, three dancers craft and conjure an ethereal terrain of pleasure and mischief. With simultaneous irreverence and respect, Declan reimagines what this form could be in a work that is part homage to, and part rebellion against tradition.
Away with the Faeries grew out of a multi-year research process that took Declan to Ireland and began during his time as a Kaserne LAB artist. At its core is an engagement with his own “roots” in Irish dance.
Alongside Declan, Mickey Mahar and Astrid Tetsche Sweeney perform. Like Declan, they come from a background in Irish dance and now work with contemporary dance. This shared practice forms the basis for a choreographic exploration of the highly codified, especially gendered, structures of the form, reconnects with movements and images that have been excluded, and opens a space for shifting and reclaiming them.
Away with the Faeries invites us into a conjuring of the fairy world and a re-imagination of Irish dance, bringing its social, queer, and communal dimensions vividly to life.
Credits
Astrid Sweeney - Performance
Mickey Mahar - Performance
Jenny Nordberg - Costume and Stage
Ultan O’Brien - Music/Sound Design
Eulalie Déguénon - Light Design
Linus Jacobson - Light Tech
Lucia Gugerli - Artistic Assistance
Paula Alonso Gómez - Production Management
Angela Demattè - Production Assistance
Residency: Milvus Artistic Research Center
Supported by: Fachausschuss Darstellende Künste BL/BS, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Edith Maryon Stiftung, Landis + Gyr, Atelier Mondial, Embassy of Ireland, Switzerland, Fonds Respect.
Co-Production: Kaserne Basel
Biografie
Declan is a dancer and choreographer based in Basel. During the 24/25 season, he was a LAB artist at Kaserne Basel. His choreographic interest lies with aesthetic conventions and the border between fantasy and reality. Declan is a member of the collective The Field, with whom he has worked with Ofelia Jarl Ortega, Meg Stuart, Isabel Lewis and Simone Aughterlony. Declan regularly collaborates with the choreographer Frédéric Gies and has also performed in works by Martina-Sofie Wildberger and Martin Forsberg amongst others. His choreographic work has been shown at ROXY, Tanzhaus Zürich, Tanzplan Ost, PACT Zollverein (DE), Kunsthal Charlottenborg (DK), The Place (UK). In 2019 he was part of danceWEB at ImPulsTanz and in 2023, was part of Springback Academy in the frame of Aerowaves. He holds a Master of Arts from London Contemporary Dance School and has completed other artistic education courses at SKH/UniArts, Stockholm.