DU Dance, Northern Ireland’s only dance development company, is to present Shift, a new show featuring 70 young dancers and musicians from across Ireland, which promises to be “an epic performance, recreating the sights, the sounds and the atmosphere of a full-blown climate change protest”.
Produced in partnership with Music Generation, Ireland’s National Music Education Programme, and Queen’s University Belfast, Shift was initiated by DU Dance’s youth steering group and features creative direction and choreography by Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based Southpaw Dance Company’s Northern Irish-born artistic director Robby Graham.
The immersive show will explore “young people’s perspective on the climate crisis, migration, and human resilience through breathtaking dance, music, and visual projections”.
The 45-minute performance has been developed through a digital rehearsal period, a seven-day residential programme and community workshops with local children. The end result “integrates movement, dance, music and dialogue in a presentation never before seen on this scale—or on this subject—in Northern Ireland”.
Shift runs at BBC Blackstaff House, Belfast from August 21–22.