The Monthly discusses the new all Island dance company, Luail, with Nicola Curry from Maiden Voyage Dance – Part 1 – Setting up the company

The new all island contemporary dance company was established earlier this year. Why now?

Luail was formed following an initiative of Arts Council Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon in response to their Advancing Dance Policy 2022-2025.

This policy acknowledged the need for dance to be recognised as an integral part of cultural life and to develop dance infrastructure on the island and to address this by establishing a year round large scale dance company to align dance with other art forms.

Following a competitive bid process, a team, led by Liz Roche Company Dublin a foundational and strategic partnership with Maiden Voyage Dance in Belfast and the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (IWA) at University of Limerick (UL), was appointed to establish and manage the new company.

Luail is a full-time contemporary dance company employing dancers full-time alongside a professional collective of resident choreographers and other artists. Luail will develop under the Artistic Direction of renowned Irish choreographer Liz Roche.

Ahead of the launch of Luail in Dublin in May, Maureen Kennelly, Director of Arts Council Ireland, said:

“Dance embodies the rhythm and spirit of our nation. I’m delighted that our vision is becoming a reality in this pioneering initiative and am excited for the bright future it heralds for dance artists and audiences across Ireland.”

The name Luail means movement, motion, energy, impulse and was selected as the name for the new company in the belief that dance is the vital pulse of human creativity, connecting people and ideas, in understanding and re-imagining the complexity of the island we all share.

Luail will commission new work, stage revivals of existing work from Irish and international choreographers and create invigorating, high-quality dance and collaborative work of various scales across diverse disciplines and performance spaces. Luail will work to enhance the ways that both artists and audiences experience dance on this island building audiences for dance, touring throughout the island and internationally, supporting talent development and promoting engagement with dance.

What are the key pillars upon which the new company will be built?

Three interconnected programme pillars will inspire and guide Luail’s work into the future.The first is to Embody the unique identity, culture and strength of our dance makers through the commissioning of original cutting-edge work, and the reimagining and touring of existing repertoire for a 21st century Ireland.

The second pillar aims to Embed dance within our cultural life through a series of bespoke outreach, participation and touring programmes which will connect dance with communities and audiences, island-wide, at home and abroad.

The third is to Empower artists to be life-long dancers and dance makers, dreamers, leaders and innovators through a series of professional development initiatives that will strengthen and sustain the career life of dancers and choreographers.

What is the role of Maiden Voyage Dance in this new project?

Maiden Voyage are one of the three foundational partners alongside Liz Roche Company Dublin and the IWA at UL to establish Luail as an all-island company.

Maiden Voyage remains a commissioning company based in Belfast creating and touring work and implementing programmes here. We will work in partnership with Luail on shared programmes of artist development, co-commissioning and participation and engagement within Northern Ireland as part of Luail’s all-island remit and share our expertise in these areas with Luail.

The partnership was launched in Belfast earlier in November 2024. Examples of work already started are outlined below.

In January 2025 we will be host our second Grad Lab intensive for recent dance graduates who have chosen to return to Belfast and build their careers here. We will be delighted to welcome six dancers to join us for that week of intensive development. Grad Lab will be led by our long-term collaborator Ryan O’Neill in his new role as inaugural dance artist in residence with Luail.

We are also delighted to be working on part of large-scale engagement project which has been commissioned by Luail from choreographer Dylan Quinn on his Dance Corner project and this will be coming to a town near you in June and August. Dance Corner is part of Luail’s wider all island engagement project To This I Belong.

In March 2025 we will present a new piece for very young audiences and their adults, Moonlight Dream, which is commissioned and produced by Maiden Voyage with funding by Arts Council Northern Ireland and has been co-commissioned by Luail with funding from Arts Council Ireland. There is also a further work, this time of teenage audiences, being commissioned by Luail for touring in 2025 and development of this new work has been supported by Maiden Voyage.

We will also be welcoming Luail to several NI venues with their 2025 touring programme throughout the year. Together we are beginning conversations with the dance and wider arts sector about existing and new touring networks across the island.