Migration Sonata
A few words from John Scott, Artistic Director IMDT | Choreographer Migration Sonata~
Migration, refugees, trauma survival and diversity has been a constant theme in my work since 2003, when I began working with clients from SPIRASI, the Centre for Care for Survivors of Torture and created a series of works with the clients beginning with ‘Fall and Recover’. In 2022, following discussions with Kilkenny Arts Festival Director, Olga Barry and Marjie Kaley, Festival Producer, Migration Sonata began development in workshops with with Kilkenny based Ukrainian refugees and Brazilian migrants, supported by Creative Ireland,. A sonata is an Italian music term meaning ‘sounded’ or ‘played’, in several movements and contrasting forms or keys. The opening image of Migration Sonata on red plastic chairs, evokes the Asylum Seeker’s interview, dictating if they receive Refugee status or a Deportation Order. The cast, from Ukraine, Brazil, Ireland, Poland and the US create a shared space together and dance in the present moment as a unique community. The workshops were facilitated by Brazilian dance artists Alessandra Azevedo and Yves Lorrhan and co ordinated by Celine Reilly. Migration Sonata. The material reflects the personal universes of each dancers, including poems by the great Ukrainian poet, Yevgey Yevtushenko, simple conversations, movement language and linguistic and cultural meeting points.
Migration Sonata was commissioned by Kilkenny Arts Festival in 2021. Regular community workshops with the local Ukrainian community have taken place since in November 2022. This community development work has been supported by Creative Ireland.
Workshop Facilitators: John Scott with Alessandra Azevedo and Yves Lorrhan
Research Material developed by John Scott with the entire cast and with Conor Thomas Doherty, Magdalena Hylak, Mufutau Yusuf, Diarmaid Armstrong, Simone O’Toole, Favour Odusola, Alex O’Neill
IMDT gives very special thanks to Olga, Marjie, Celine and the whole team at Kilkenny Arts Festival. Thank you to Rachael Gillkey, Kestrel Wolgemuth, Aidan Connelly and the amazing team at Irish Arts Center, New York. Thanks to Creative Ireland, the Kilkenny Arts Office, and Kilkenny County Council.
PERFORMERS
Alessandra Azevedo
Alessandra is an Afro-Brazilian contemporary dancer, Capoeira performer & instructor from Salvador, Bahia. A reference for Afro-Brazilian culture in Ireland, Alessandra has worked with major European choreographers since relocating to Irealnd. She is currently producing her debut solo show to be premiered at Dublin Fringe Festival 2024 and developing the first 'Quilombo Terra' - a resistance movement based on de-colonisation and embodied, afro-indigenous knowledge.
Yeman Brown
Yeman was born and raised in Tallahassee, Fl. In addition to receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from The Florida State University, he studied as a scholarship student at Ailey School and at The American Dance Festival. Theatre credits include Jagged Little Pill (Broadway), Dancin' (Broadway), and movement direction for “As Much as I Can” at The Public Theatre. Yeman has also been featured in music videos by Mumford & Sons, The Jonas Brothers, and Amanda Palmer. In addition to performance work, Yeman has led movement workshops around the world that encourage dancers and non-dancers alike to find joy in movement as a way of understanding our human experience. This is Yeman's first performance with IMDT
Inez Berdychowska
is a movement artist and choreographer specialising in contemporary dance. Inez trained with Dublin Youth Dance Company followed by attending a full-time training programe at The School of Dance and Ballet Fouetté in Poznań, Poland, graduating with a diploma in 2021. She trained further at the Madrid Dance Centre in a professional ballet training programme working with choreographers like Ivan Bareto and Eva Martz before pursuing an MA in contemporary dance in The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick. Inez has been working with Irish Modern Dance Theatre since 2022 in the creation process of “The Wanderer”, “Othello, maybe a dance” and “Divine Madness”. She performed in the Galway Cathedral in “Physical Semaphores”. Inez is interested creating her own choreography with a recent performance and co-creation with Kaini Zhao “Symbiosis performed at The Irish Youth Dance Festival and solo work “Explicitness in its object”. Inez is fascinated by movement exploration and endless artistic possibilities and likes to investigate this further in her visual and written work.
Yves Lorrhan
Born in Brazil in 1988, Yves Lorrhan is a dancer who has had dance in his life since he was 9 years old, and during these 24 years of movement, his technical base is ballroom dancing, but he brings physical experiences with dance. Contemporary, ballet and afro dance. He believes that we all have dance inside us and that through it, we can have a more humane society. This is Yves first performance with IMDT
Rebecca Reilly
Becky Reilly has danced with IMDT on and off for over 15 years. The last piece she performed in was in 2020 Dances for Inside and Outside. She currently teaches creative dance to kids and works as an EMT. She is very happy to be involved in this work!
Kama Bugala
Kama is an Irish based contemporary dance artist who began her training with Dublin
Youth Dance Company from 2015 – 2022 under the directorship of Mariam Ribon
In DYDC Kama worked with an array of established choreographers such as:
Liz Roche, John Scott, Philip Conaughton, Muirne Bloomer, guest international choreographers Toni Bravo (US), Juan Maria Seller (Portugal), Helen Wilson (UK) and with teachers Mariam Ribón, Justine Doswell, Karla Holden, and Kate Haughton. Kama has been working with Justine Doswell since 2019. Kama received a bursary Award through EMERGENCE and has shown her own work in Dancer from the Dance Festival.
Kama has been featured in dance films "Tasting an Organised Dream" by Alexandra Vostokova funded and in Adam O'Reilly's film "Oscillation". Kama has also taken a one year course in contemporary dance in PERA North Cyprus 2022 working with Fabian Thome, Penelope Morout, Yaghvali Falzari, Vittoria Ferrari, Rafaela Sahyoun, and Jean Abreu.
Kama now plans to begin creating her own works, develop her artistic practice, and network with interdispilary communities to broaden the scope of contemporary dance amongst artists in Ireland and abroad. ’This is Kama's first performance with IMDT
Alexandra Vostokova
Alex Vostokova is an Irish dancer, choreographer, and director: working across live performance, improvisation and film. She has been awarded from Arts Council Ireland, dlr county council, and Dance Ireland to further both creation and artistic development.
Since 2017 she had been extensively involved with Dublin Youth Dance Company which facilitated her growth and development in contemporary dance. She continued her training across several dance hubs in Europe, most prominently in Berlin: engaging with contemporary, street dance, circus and physical theater practices.
Alex has performed in works by: Liz Roche, John Scott, Simone O’Toole, Pan Pan Theatre, Dance2Connect, Jessie Thompson and Kate Haughton in Ireland. This is Alex's first performance with IMDT.
Helena Krasna
Performer
Iryna Tarnavska
Performer
Oksana Kurovets
Performer
Yevheniia Dmytrenko
Performer
Ana Mukhina
Performer
Photo by Paula Trojner
CREATIVE TEAM
John Scott
Choreographer
John Scott, Dublin born Choreographer, dancer, singer, Aosdána member and founder of IMDT. After obtaining a BA in English and Classics, he studied with the Living Theatre and later Irish National College of Dance/Dublin City Ballet, later studying with Pablo Vela, Meredith Monk and Susan Buirge. Choreographic works include ‘Othello-maybe a dance’, ‘Cloud Study’, ‘Lear’, ‘Fall and Recover’ and ‘Actions’. He has performed in Meredith Monk’s Quarry and for Yoshiko Chuma, Sarah Rudner, Thomas Lehmen, Adrienne Truscott and Anna Sokolow and performs in Oona Doherty’s ‘Hard To Be Soft’. John is one of the subjects of Sadlers Wells’ 52 Portraits for Jonathan Burrows, Hugo Glendinning and Matteo Fargion. He also founder and curator of Dancer from the Dance Festival of Irish Choreography in New York and Dublin.
Joe Levasseur
Lighting Designer
Joe has collaborated with many dance and performance artists including: Pavel Zuštiak/Palissimo, John Jasperse, Sarah Michelson, Christopher Williams, Annie-B Parson, Neil Greenberg, and Beth Gill. He lit both Wendy Whelan's 2013 breakout Restless Creature, and her subsequent collaboration with Brian Brooks, Some of a Thousand Words (2016). He has received two ‘Bessie’ awards (including one with Big Dance Theater) and a Knight of Illumination Award for his work on Meredith Monk’s Cellular Songs. Levasseur was recently the Director of Production for Baryshnikov Arts Center. Instagram: @sirjoelevasseur / www.joelevasseur.com
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Tom Lane
Composer and Sound Designer
Tom Lane is a Dublin-based composer. He studied composition at Balliol College Oxford, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Berlin University of the Arts. He recently received his PhD in composition from University College Cork. He works frequently to create new music for dance, theatre and opera productions as well as new scores for instrumental and vocal ensembles. Tom has been commissioned to write new scores for the Banbha Quartet, Cantairí Óga Átha Cliath, Cork Opera House, John Scott Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Northern Ireland Opera, Cantairí Avondale, The Abbey Theatre, Kirkos Ensemble, Pipeworks Organ Festival, The Globe Theatre, The Almeida Theatre, and The Ark Theatre.
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HK Sheridan
Composer and Sound Design Assistant
HK Ní Shioradáin is a composer, sound designer, and performer, currently on the Rough Magic SEEDS Programme 2023/2024. Recent design credits include Grindr, Saghdar, agus Cher (Galway International Arts Festival), St Brigid’s Cloak (RTÉ), Piglet (the New Theatre), Good Chips (Virgin Media).
Text Translation
Read by Oksana Kurovets
THE LILY
By Taras Shevchenko
Translated by John Weir
“Why did to me from childhood days
The people bear ill-will?
And why was 1 when but a maid
By those same people killed?
And yet today why do they prize
My presence in their rooms,
Call me a queen, can’t feast their eyes
Enough upon my blooms?
Why ao they now my praises sing
Ana hold me in esteem?
Pray tell me, flower-of-the-king,
What can the reason be?”
“Alas, my sister, I don’t know,”
Said flower-of-the-king,
As tenderly to her he bowed
His head of rose-and-pink
To touch the Lily’s pallid cheek,
A crumb of comfort bring.
And then the Lily gan to weep,
Her tears the purest dew....
She softly wept, and then she said:
“My brother, I and you
Have loved each other lone, yet I
Have never told vou, friend,
The story of my human life,
The woes I suffered then....
Why did my mother always grieve
And sorrow over me?
When looking at me, why did she
So sadly sigh and weep?
The reason then I did not know,
My brother, why she cried,
Or who it was had wrong’d her so.
I was a little child
And child-like busily 1 played,
Quite happy at my games,
While she grew weaker day by day
And cursed our master’s name.
She died. The master took me then
Into his manor hall.
And so I spent my youth within
Those stately mansion walls.
There I grew up, yet did not guess
I was his bastard child.
And then abroad the master went,
While I was left behind.
The people cursed him, and they came,
The manor set afire....
And me... they did not kill or maim,
But - I can’t fathom why -
Cut off my braids, my tresses fair
That were my joy and pride,
And on my head, now shorn of hair,
A dirty rag they tied.
All jeered. Even Jews spat in my face,
Although themselves despised.
Such were the ills I underwent
In life, my brother dear.
The people did not let me spend
In peace my youthful years,
They hounded me to death. I died
In winter by the road,
But in the spring time came alive
With petals white as snow.
A flower growing in the downs!
I brightened up the grove.
The previous winter... oh my God!
The people, jeering, drove
Me from their midst. But in the spring
With wonder and with love
They looked at me. My snow-white blooms
The girls in garlands twined
And called me lily-of-the-snows;
And I began to thrive
In hot-houses and palace rooms
As well as I grew wild.
Oh floWer-or-the-king, explain,
My brother dear, pray tell:
For what was I by God ordained
A flower here to dwell?
To please the very people who
Detested me and Killed,
And killed my gentle mother too?
Dear God! Is that Your will?”
Again the Lily began to weep.
The flower-of-the-king
With tenderness and pity deep
His head of rose-and-pink
Bent to the Lily’s pallid face
And brushed her tearful cheek.
Тарас Шевченко
ЛІЛЕЯ
«За що мене, як росла я,
Люде не любили?
За що мене, як виросла,
Молодую вбили?
За що вони тепер мене
В палатах вітають,
Царівною називають,
Очей не спускають
З мого цвіту? Дивуються,
Не знають, де діти!
Скажи мені, мій братику,
Королевий Цвіте!»
«Я не знаю, моя сестро».
І Цвіт Королевий
Схилив свою головоньку
Червоно-рожеву
До білого пониклого
Личенька Лілеї.
І заплакала Лілея
Росою-сльозою...
Заплакала і сказала:
«Брате мій, з тобою
Ми давно вже кохаємось,
А я й не сказала,
Як була я людиною,
Як я мордувалась.
Моя мати... чого вона,
Вона все журилась
І на мене, на дитину,
Дивилась, дивилась
І плакала? Я не знаю,
Мій брате єдиний!
Хто їй лихо заподіяв?
Я була дитина,
Я гралася, забавлялась,
А вона все в’яла,
Та нашого злого пана
Кляла-проклинала.
Та й умерла. А мене пан
Взяв догодувати.
Я виросла, викохалась
У білих палатах.
Я не знала, що байстря я,
Що його дитина.
Пан поїхав десь далеко,
А мене покинув.
І прокляли його люде,
Будинок спалили...
А мене, не знаю за що,
Убити не вбили,
Тілько мої довгі коси
Остригли, накрили
Острижену ганчіркою.
Та ще й реготались.
Жиди навіть нечистії
На мене плювали.
Отаке-то, мій братику,
Було мені в світі.
Молодого, короткого
Не дали дожити
Люде віку. Я умерла
Зимою під тином,
А весною процвіла я
Цвітом при долині,
Цвітом білим, як сніг, білим!
Аж гай звеселила.
Зимою люде... Боже мій!
В хату не пустили.
А весною, мов на диво,
На мене дивились.
А дівчата заквітчались
І почали звати
Лілеєю-снігоцвітом;
І я процвітати
Стала в гаї, і в теплиці,
І в білих палатах.
Скажи ж мені, мій братику,
Королевий Цвіте,
Нащо мене Бог поставив
Цвітом на сім світі?
Щоб людей я веселила,
Тих самих, що вбили
Мене й матір?.. Милосердий
Святий Боже милий!»
І заплакала Лілея,
А Цвіт Королевий
Схилив свою головоньку
Червоно-рожеву
На білеє пониклеє
Личенько Лілеї.
Read by Yevheniia Dmytrenko
I CARE NOT
By Taras Shevchenko
Translated by T. L. Voynich
I care not, shall I see my dear
Own land before I die, or no,
Nor who forgets me, buried here
In desert wastes of alien snow;
Trough all forget me, — better so.
A slave from my first bitter years,
Moat surely I shall die a slave
Ungraced of any kinsmen’s tears;
And carry with me to my grave
Everything; and leave no trace,
No little maik to keep my place
In the dear lost Ukraina
Which is not ours, though our land.
And none shall ever understand;
No father to his son shall say:
— Kneel down, and fold your hands, and pray;
He died for our Ukraina.
I care no longer if the child
Shall pray for me, or pass me by.
One only thing I cannot bear:
To know my land, that was beguiled
Into a death-trap with a lie,
Trampled and rumen and defiled...
Ah, but I care, dear God; I care!
Тарас Шевченко
МЕНІ ОДНАКОВО, ЧИ БУДУ..
Мені однаково, чи буду
Я жить в Україні, чи ні.
Чи хто згадає, чи забуде
Мене в снігу на чужині —
Однаковісінько мені.
В неволі виріс між чужими
І, неоплаканий своїми,
В неволі, плачучи, умру.
І все з собою заберу,
Малого сліду не покину
На нашій славній Україні,
На нашій — не своїй землі.
І не пом’яне батько з сином,
Не скаже синові: — Молись,
Молися, сину, за Вкраїну
Його замучили колись. —
Мені однаково, чи буде
Той син молитися, чи ні...
Та неоднаково мені,
Як Україну злії люде
Присплять, лукаві, і в огні
Її, окраденую, збудять...
Ох, не однаково мені.