Junk Ensemble's BIRD WITH BOY Heads Out on UK Tour This Spring

Following their UK touring debut with The Falling Song in 2014, Dublin's award-winning dance theatre company Junk Ensemble is back in the UK this summer with a tour of BIRD WITH BOY, their critically acclaimed site responsive work. The tour will run May-July 2016 with the premiere set for 27 May.

BIRD WITH BOY is an unexpected encounter with dance, theatre and live music in an exquisitely designed setting created by Valerie Reid. About things that end before they should, BIRD WITH BOY uses a multi-generational cast, including six local boys, and an unabashed sense of theatricality to create an intimate, haunting audience experience. The production has been created by Junk's joint artistic directors, twin-sisters Jessica and Megan Kennedy, with Scottish theatre director Jo Timmins. The five professional cast are dancers Eddie Kay, Lucia Kickham, Tilly Webber, and composer-musicians Tom Lane and Bryan O'Connell.

Junk Ensemble creates works of dance theatre which spark the imagination of audiences. They first showed work in the UK in 2012 when they were Artists in residence at Tate Britain, and toured the UK with The Falling Song in 2014. Junk has won a number of arts industry awards in Ireland and tours internationally. BIRD WITH BOY was first performed at Kilmainham Jail in 2011 as part of Dublin Fringe Festival where it won festival Best Production and received nominations for Best Design and Best Female Performer.

IF YOU GO:

27 & 28 May 6pm and 8pm

Newcastle Castle, The Black Gate, Castle Garth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1RQ

Presented by Dance City

Ticket Office: 0191 261 0505

Book tickets: www.dancecity.co.uk

18 June at 18.30 and 20.30

Old Police Station, 114-119 Amersham Vale, New Cross, SE14 6LG

Book tickets: birdwithboy.eventbrite.co.uk

9 & 10 July 6pm and 8pm

Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA) (logo)

University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RA www.sussex.ac.uk/acca

Co-programmed by South East Dance and Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts

Ticket Enquiries: 01273 696844 hello@southeastdance.org.uk

Book tickets: bird-with-boy-brighton.eventbrite.com.

13 & 14 July 6pm and 8pm

South Hill Park

Ringmead, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 7PA

Ticket Office: 01344 484 123

Book tickets: www.southhillpark.org.uk

The UK tour of BIRD WITH BOY is produced by CUE in association with Sarah Trist Dance Management Agency and is supported by Arts Council England and Culture Ireland as part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme.

Junk Ensemble is an award-winning Dublin-based dance company founded by joint Artistic Directors and twin sisters Megan Kennedy and Jessica Kennedy in 2004 to create works of brave and imaginative dance theatre. Previous Artists in Residence at Tate Britain, the company have won Best Production Award, Best Lighting Design, Best Performer, Culture Ireland Touring Award, Excellence and Innovation Award and are listed a Sunday Times Highlight. Junk Ensemble's work continues to tour nationally and internationally. Their productions are often created in collaboration with artists from other disciplines to produce a rich mix of visual and performance styles that seeks to challenge the traditional audience performer relationship. This approach has led to productions being created in non-traditional or found spaces as well as more conventional theatre spaces.

Productions include Walking Pale (GPO Witness History Commission/Dublin Dance Festival 2016), It Folds, a joint production with Brokentalkers (Edinburgh Fringe 2016/Mayfest Bristol 2016/Tiger Dublin Fringe, Abbey Theatre 2015), Dusk Ahead (NYC La MaMa Moves Festival 2015/National Tour 2015/Dublin Theatre Festival 2013/Kilkenny Arts Festival 2013), The Falling Song (8-venue UK & National Tour 2014/Belfast Festival 2012/Dublin Dance Festival 2012), Bird with Boy (UK Tour 2016/Dublin Theatre Festival 2012/Dublin Fringe Festival 2011), Sometimes We Break (Tate Commission 2012), Five Ways to Drown (National Tour 2012/Dublin Dance Festival 2010), Pygmalian Revisited (Áix-en-Provence Festival Commission 2010), Drinking Dust (2008), and The Rain Party (2007). Junk Ensemble completed the short film Blind Runner (2013), commissioned by Dance Ireland. Junk Ensemble are Project Artists, an initiative of Project Arts Centre. For more information, visit www.junkensemble.com.

Jessica Kennedy (Joint Artistic Director and Choreographer) - Jessica Kennedy is an award-winning choreographer and dance artist based in Dublin. She trained in the U.S.A., Dublin and London, completing her degree in Dance and English Literature in London. She is co-founder and Co-Artistic Director of Junk Ensemble, a multi-award winning dance theatre company who tour nationally and internationally with their productions. She has performed extensively with dance and theatre companies in Europe and the UK. In Ireland she collaborates regularly with Brokentalkers and has performed in productions with The Abbey Theatre, The Ark and The Pavilion Theatre. She created the internationally acclaimed short film Motion Sickness in 2012 and has choreographed for and performed in numerous film, theatre and opera work. Jessica has lectured at various universities in Ireland and also performs in the band Everything Shook. She was Dancer in Residence at RUA RED Arts Centre in 2012/13.

Megan Kennedy (Joint Artistic Director and Choreographer) - Megan Kennedy trained at Alvin Ailey Dance Center in New York City and received a B.A. Honours from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Megan is Co-Artistic Director of Junk Ensemble. She has performed with Retina Dance Company (UK), Tanz Lange (Germany), Firefly Productions (Belgium), Storytelling Unplugged (Romania), Blast Theory (UK) and in Ireland with CoisCéim Dance Theatre (Faun, As You Are), Brokentalkers (The Blue Boy, On This One Night), The Abbey Theatre (Romeo & Juliet), Mouth on Fire (Everlasting Voices), Bedrock Productions (Pale Angel) and productions for The Pavilion Theatre and The Ark (IRL). Performance and choreography for film includes Óiche Nollaig na mBan (RTÉ TG4), The Wake (dir: Oonagh Kearney), Blind Runner (Junk Ensemble/Dance Ireland Commission), Wonder House (Dublin Film Festival), Her Mother's Daughters (Winner Best Actress Capalbio Festival Italy/Dance on Camera NYC/RTÉ Dance on the Box). Choreography for live performance includes Marble & Bread (Dance Limerick), Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades Opera (Edinburgh Festival Theatre), Bram Stoker Festival (IRL), and eX Choral Ensemble (IRL). Megan was Dance Artist-in-Residence in Limerick in 2014/15 and is a current Fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar.

Jo Timmins (Co-Director) - Jo Timmins is founder and Artistic Director of Lyra (Scotland) and former Director in Residence with Imaginate and National Theatre of Scotland. She originally trained as a director at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, and she works in theatre, dance and design, with a focus on performing arts for children and teenagers. Jo created Pigeon, Hush and Rebecca's Midnight for Lyra and as well as co-creating Bird with Boy, she has worked with Junk Ensemble as designer (Sometimes we break, Tate Britain commission) and director (The Rain Party). She has directed for Kopergietery (Belgium) and Catherine Wheels (Scotland) and was a Fresh Tracks Europe choreographer in 2013 (Vienna). Jo is the recipient of a Winston Churchill Fellowship and a Dewar Arts Award.

Valerie Reid (Visual Designer) - Valerie Reid is a designer based in Edinburgh. After many years of procrastination she actually got on with what she wanted to do all along; some graphic design, some design for performance, and some visual artworks. She has worked on site-specific performance design and theatre installations for Junk Ensemble, Lyra Theatre, Hannah Venet, Lou Brodie and Megan Kennedy.

Tom Lane (Composer and performer) - Tom Lane is a Dublin based composer and sound designer. He studied composition at the University of Oxford, the London Royal Academy of Music and the Berlin University of the Arts. He is currently a PhD candidate in Composition for Theatre at University College Cork under the supervision of Professor Mel Mercier. Tom has been nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award on three occasions: in 2012 for his opera FLATPACK, in 2014 for Between Trees and Water by Painted Bird Productions and in 2015 for Oedipus at the Abbey Theatre (Ireland's National Theatre). In September 2014 his piece Harp, A River Cantata featured over 100 performers and transformed the Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin into a giant harp as the opening event of the Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival.

Bryan O'Connell (Composer and performer) - Bryan O'Connell is a drummer/percussionist, improviser and composer of rhythmic acoustic and electronic music working mostly in contemporary dance, dance theatre and improvised music. Apart from Junk Enemble, the dance companies he has worked with are Liz Roche Company, Liv O'Dohoghue and Emma Martin Dance Company. Recent work includes live soundtrack composition with Ernst Reijseger, Sean Macerlaine, David Stalling, Matthew Nolan, Erik Friedlander & others and with Buzz Aldrin Allstars. Bryan works as recording / touring drummer with Beautiful Unit, Si Schroeder and Abigail Smith. Other regular collaborators include sound artists David Stalling and Anthony Kelly, Matthew Nolan and Gavin Prior. He has performed with Philip Jeck and Damo Suzuki and is currently researching the work of Jaki Liebezeit.

Eddie Kay (Performer) - Eddie studied at London Contemporary Dance School and Northern School of Contemporary Dance. He performed and collaborated with DV8 Physical Theatre/Films (Cost of Living, To be straight with you), Frantic Assembly (Hymns, Dirty Wonderland, Othello, Beautiful Burnout), CoisCéim Dance Company (Knots, As you are, Faun), Legs On The Wall (Tranny boy), Rufus Norris and Damon Albarn (Dr Dee), Brokentalkers (Track, The Blue Boy), Jessica Kennedy and John Mcllduff (Motion Sickness). Eddie has been Associate and Movement Director for Channel4, Brokentalkers, Frantic Assembly, Once (West End Production), The Royal Court, National Theatre of Scotland's Transform Projects, National Theatre of Wales, The Wrong Crowd, National Youth Theatre of Wales, Bare Methodical Troupe and Freshmess. He has choreographed with 2Faced Dance. His other projects with junk ensemble were Five Ways to Drown and The Falling Song.

Lucia Kickham (Performer) - Lucia is a Dublin-based dance artist creating, performing and collaborating internationally since 2011. Trained at Fontys Dance Academy in The Netherlands, she has since worked with TRASH (NL), Liz Roche Company (IRL), Maiden Voyage (NI), John Jasperse (US), Philip Connaughton (IRL), Maria Nilsson Waller (SE), Catherine Young (IRL), Ciotóg - Ríonach Ní Néill (IRL) and director Maeve Stone (IRL) among others. She has performed in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Belfast Theatre Festival, Dublin Dance Festival, Dublin Fringe and toured work throughout the UK, Sweden and The Netherlands. In 2013 Lucia choreographed the dance film Anticipated Moment commissioned by Dance Ireland. Her current solo project In This Now will tour nationally in Winter 2016/17.

Tilly Webber (Performer) - In 2008 Tilly graduated from London Contemporary Dance School with a BA Hons, where she worked with choreographers such as Hofesh Schecter, Richard Alston and Kerry Nicholls. >From there She has worked extensively as a free-lance artist and with various companies including Michael Clarke Dance, Rosie Kay Dance Company, Neil Callaghan and Simone Kenyon, Laila Diallo, Marc Brew Company, Lorena Randi, Aletta Collins, Dam Van Huynh, to name but a few. Alongside this she has performed in Operas nationally and internationally, including a production of 'Candide' with L'Opera de Lorriane, France and been featured in various music videos, independent films, giving her a varied career in performance. In 2013 she started working for Dan Canham's company StillHouse and performed in his works 'Ours Was The Fen Country' and 'Of Riders and Running horses'. 2015 brought her to Ireland to work with Megan Kennedy for her work 'Marble and Bread' (Limerick) and Tilly is delighted to be working with Junk Ensemble this year.

Photo by Luca Truffarelli

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