IF you see dancers wearing straw outfits dancing around the town or a village near you next week don’t be alarmed.
It’s just Tralee dance artist Rob Heaslip and some friends reviving the cultural tradition of ‘The Strawboys’ with a modern twist, in a vibrant pop-up work across Kerry from July 14 to July 19.
Strawboys is an energetic outdoor performance which blurs the lines between traditional and contemporary dance and music and pays homage to the traditions and costumes of the Wren Boys who once paraded through the streets, towns and fields of Ireland.
Continued below…
From Thursday week, July 14 to Monday, July 19, pop up performances of Strawboys will take place all over Kerry in town centres and rural settings such as village squares, carparks and forests.
Unsuspecting audiences will see a luminous strawboy enter a location, before being joined by the rest of the cast to perform a highly percussive and visually work in which the lively Balkans vibes of the music match colour-popping costumes.
A native of Tralee, Rob Heaslip works internationally as a dance artist, choreographer, dancer, movement director and dance teacher.
Strawboys is the second work in Rob Heaslip’s trilogy, exploring rituals of death, life and birth amongst the Gaels, the people on the north-western edge of Europe.
Strawboys features professional dancers Sophie Hutchinson, Favour Odusola, Aneta Dortová and Salma Ataya.
Composers Zoe Katsilerou and Eilon Morris’ joyous music matches the vibrant costumes and woven masks of Scottish Costume Designer Alison Brown.
Strawboys will be performed in over 50 different community sites and venues in Kerry, Clare and Galway in July and August. Each performance lasts 25 minutes.
It is supported by the Arts Council and in partnership with Town Hall Theatre Galway, Galway City Council, Galway County Council, Siamsa Tíre- The National Folk Theatre of Ireland, Kerry County Council, Glór Ennis and Clare County Council.
A FOURTH round of the Local Live Performance Programming Scheme (LLPPS) has been announced and applications are invited from people wishing to avail of the funding.
