haiku
2023
Maiden Voyage Dance announce haiku, a new work for public spaces from acclaimed choreographer Erik Kaiel creator of Belfast Children's Festival favourites, Tetris and No Man is An Island.
The piece is an ode to friendship. Each one of us is trying to find our tribe where we can grow and be seen and accepted for who we are. Friendship unlocks a way of seeing and being in the world so we are more free to be ourselves. haiku celebrates small poetic moments as more powerful than grand gestures
For the piece Erik will work with existing Maiden Voyage dancers Maeve McGreevy and Rosie Mullin and welcome new dancer Gerard Headley who has joined the company having recently graduated from Northern School of Contemporary Dance.
haiku will be shown free at The Ulster Museum on Sat 4 March 11:30am, 2pm and Sun 5 March 11:30am, 2pm.
ARTIST PROFILES
Erik Kaiel
Erik has been making dances for over a quarter century – he spent nearly a decade in New York, then relocated to the Netherlands. He and his group arch 8 have performed on six continents for thousands of young people, and his choreographies have won numerous international prizes. When not performing Erik regularly guest creates for numerous ensembles, including Malmo, Marseille, Mannheim, Maastricht, and Munich (and that’s just the M’s). He also guest teaches for projects and programs around the globe, with particular emphasis on site specific work, work for young audiences, improvisation, and composition.
Gerard Headley
Gerard (he/him) is an actor, dancer, and physical theatre maker from Belfast. He graduated from The Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2020 and has worked with artists such as Theo Clinkard, Douglas Thorpe & Rod Dixon. In 2022 he developed and toured a new dance work across Europe as an Instant Dissidence company member with Artistic Director Rita Marcarlo. Gerard is passionate about platforming underrepresented, often political narratives, through physicalised stripped back storytelling. He is currently developing his new solo work ‘HOMO sapien’ which looks at the internal conflicts caused by queer self-censorship.
Maeve McGreevy
Maeve is a graduate of London Contemporary Dance School and specialises in contemporary dance, Argentine Tango and Argentine Folklore. Dance has brought her all over the world and introduced her to so many wonderful people. She has travelled to New York, Palermo, Rome, Warsaw, Paris, Bergen and London to train and teach and, among others, is lucky to have worked with Sarah Blanc/Moxie Brawl, NI Opera, Bradley Smail, Ben Duke, Emilio Cornejo, Tango Fever, Tomás Corbalán and Maiden Voyage. She loves being involved in work which involves character-based movement and will to continue explore this as the years go by.
Maeve is delighted to be returning to dance with Maiden Voyage in the Belfast Children’s Festival this year and cannot wait to see where the imaginations of the city’s kids (…of any age!) will wander to through ‘haiku’.
Rosie Mullin
Rosie began her formal training in Belfast Metropolitan College and University of Central Lancashire before completing a postgraduate certificate in Advanced Training in Ulster University. She has worked professionally throughout Ireland and the UK, with companies such as Off The Rails Dance (NI), Dance Syndrome (UK), O.D. Works (NI) and Maiden Voyage Dance (NI). In 2020 she worked with Maiden Voyage as part of the Match Make initiative and choreographed her first solo work in collaboration with writer Kat Woods. Rosie has worked with Oona Doherty since 2020, performing in The Devil, rehearsal directing Hard To Be Soft: A Belfast Prayer in France and performing in the Hollywood Bowl in front of 17,000 people. She continues to be a core artist in the dance outreach delivered in Northern Ireland, working closely with Maiden Voyage Dance, NI Opera and the BEAT Carnival Group. In 2022 Rosie was selected as the lead dance artist for the Belfast St. Patrick’s Festival, movement directing a parade of over 200 performers. She hopes to continue developing her artistry in movement directing, along with refining her technique in different styles of contemporary dance and circus.
Maiden Voyage Dance is principally funded by Arts Council of Northern Ireland and funded by Belfast City Council.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Choreography: Erik Kaiel and dancers
Performers: Gerard Headley, Maeve McGreevy, Rosie Mullin
Photography: Joe Fox
