Legitimate Bodies Dance Company

“Simple, clever and hilarious…” Irish Times, Sep 2007
“Words and motion were in perfect balance…” Irish Times, Sep 2007
“Brilliant idea, brilliantly executed…” Scotland on Sunday, Aug 2008
“Funny and perceptive on so many levels…” The Herald, Aug 2008


BRIEF HISTORY
Legitimate Bodies Dance Company, led by artistic duo Nick Bryson and Cristina Goletti, is one of the most thrilling new dance initiative in Ireland. Nick and Cristina, who are both highly regarded dance artists, met on the Daghdha Dance Company’s mentoring programme and started a choreographic collaboration that ended up with an invitation to perform at the international dance festival “Performatica” in Mexico. Consequently their second piece was performed as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival 2007 at the DanceHouse to great success of audience and public and has been supported by Dance Ireland under the Incubator Programme.
At the beginning of October 2007 they founded Legitimate Bodies Dance Company that became the company in residence at the Birr Theatre and Arts Centre, in Birr, Co.Offaly. With the support of Offaly County Council and The Arts Council, they furthered their artistic practise and initiated different dance educational and outreach programmes for children, youth and community, creating a momentum for contemporary dance in the Midlands. Since then they toured to various venues in Ireland, Italy and Northern Ireland and they received support from Culture Ireland and the Irish Embassy to return to Mexico this year for a series of performances and workshops.
They have also collaborated with American dramaturg Talal Al Muhanna, Waterford Image Festival Chairman Nick Banks and Cork based actor Damian Punch.
The company has also been invited to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2008 to feature in a curated evening of dance with the comedic duo “Hanging in There”.

CLASSES AVAILABLE
Yummy Dance
Starts Tue 26 Jan, 3–4pm Dance Games for 3–5 year olds to keep them active and nurture their creativity.
(5 classes €50 or drop in €12)

First Footing
Starts Tue 19 Jan, 4.30–6pm Amazing fun dance game sessions with lots of exciting dance for 7–11 year olds.
((€60 for 9 week block)

Offaly Youth Dance
Starts Wed 20 Jan, 5.15–7.15pm The only chance to explore and perform contemporary dance in the county for 12–17 year-olds. Don’t miss it!
(€65 for 9 week block)

Ballet for Adults
Starts Wed 13 Jan (Advanced), 8.40–10pm Starts Thu 14 Jan (Beginners), 6.30–7.30pm If you ever dreamt of becoming a ballerina but never got the chance, come along to this beautiful class and let the health benefits of ballet take you by surprise.
(€100 for 10 classes or drop in €12)

Body Control Pilates Classes
Starts Mon 18 Jan, 11am–12pm • Wed 20 Jan, 1–2pm or 7.30–8.30pm A wonderful body mind type of exercise that will improve your posture, your tone and make you look stronger, fitter and better! Mats and light resistance equipment provided.
(€75 for 6 classes)


BOOKING
Call Birr Theatre and Arts Centre
Box Office open: 1pm and 5:30pm
057 9122911
E-mail: legitimatebodies@eircom.net

BIRR THEATRE AND ARTS CENTRE
The location for our dance classes is the spacious studio space at the beautifully restored Birr Theatre and Arts Centre on Oxmantown Mall, Birr. Changing and toilet facilities are available.

BIOBRAPHIES
Nick Bryson
Nick, originally from Belfast, trained as a dancer at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds and as a choreographer at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam. He worked as a choreographer in residence at the Firkin Crane in Cork, taking his creations to Dublin, Amsterdam, New York and Basel amongst other places. As a dancer he has worked for Rebus, This Torsion, Myriad and Daghdha Dance Companies. He also holds an MA in Performance from the University of Limerick. He has also been invited to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2008 one of his piece, “Hanging in there”, as part of a curated evening.


Cristina Goletti
Cristina, who is from Italy, trained at the London Contemporary Dance School where she gained a Postgraduate Diploma with distinction dancing and touring across Europe with Edge, the Postgraduate Company of LCDS. As a dancer, she performed works by Hofesh Schechter, Jonathan Lunn, Charles Linehan, Maresa Von Stockert and Yann Lheraux amongst others. In Ireland as part of the Daghdha Mentoring Programme, she was in Michael Klien’s “Sand Section” and in “Ruins” for Myriad Dance Company. She has also been teaching release technique across Europe, Japan and Mexico. Recent awards include “DanceWEB European Scholarship” Vienna 2008 and Bursary Award from The Irish Arts Council.