REVERB is a new dance work created by choreographer Sarah Golding in collaboration with multi-instrumentalist and composer, Lisa Canny.
Below, the duo discuss the origin of their collaboration, their creative process and creating work for Luail – Ireland's new national and all-island dance company.
How did this collaboration come about?
Sarah: I was approached by Luail in 2024, following a piece I had made with Luail's partners in Belfast, Maiden Voyage Dance. REVERB has drawn a lot of inspiration from that piece. I had seen Lisa at her album launch at a tiny church in London and I remember thinking, 'she is electric, I HAVE to collaborate with this person’. We had mutual friends, so I knew it was possible. When the opportunity came to make a new piece with Luail – the fact that I was going to be in Ireland and that there was going to be a live-music element to the piece – it felt like the perfect opportunity to bring Lisa into the project.
Lisa: When Sarah and I first met, we were both keen to find a moment for a collaboration, and so when she approached me to work with her on this new piece with Ireland’s new national dance company, I was so excited– it’s always a risk working with a friend on a project, but this has been a joy.
Can you talk about REVERB and where the inspiration came from?
Sarah: REVERB is about how memories change over time. When Lisa and I first started to talk about our process, we spoke about how when you recall a memory, it has already changed or shifted in some way. So we felt that the next progression of this would be to explore how we share memories and tell stories.
We looked at the ways that you share legacy and stories, what setting does that happen in? Is it a social gathering; at a party; is it privately; is it quietly; is it loudly? What do these different moments of sharing look like? When I thought about this, what I started to make physically felt a lot like reverb. It felt like the repetition of stories told through the body; and I feel like the identity of the music is such a clear response to this too.
It's always a risk working with a friend on a project, but this has been a joy.
Lisa: One of the main feelings when I was writing the music was the idea of joyous types of movement. That was really important for both of us, we wanted it to be the sharing of joy and we wanted for people to feel uplifted. That has been the whole theme of our collaboration. I was following the flow of this feeling of joy and of sharing, not overthinking it or not trying to create anything in particular. When you follow this through, then you end up with something that feels very true to the the work.
When it comes to the music, while very cohesive, it has a lot of opposing ideas. There's a lot of juxtaposition going on throughout the whole soundtrack between Irish instruments and Irish melodies. Obviously it’s very influenced by trad, and then with these loops that I was finding online, I was chopping up a bit, and they were definitely weren't trad or from the Irish music scene at all. And to use those elements to create the music and then bring them to Laura and Josh and actually play some of those loops, but on a fiddle, and in an Irish way brings another element of interest to it. So, it's got its foundation in trad, but it's just like a world of sounds, a world of other feelings.
I really hope that this performance will energise the audience and leave them on a high so that they'll just want to keep dancing, chatting and socialising.
What has it been like working with a brand new dance company?
Sarah: It’s been really interesting. I think the thing I've noticed the most is when we first started working on this process, it was all so new. I think, I was the second creative process they had been through, so the relationships between the dancers were still really fresh. There was a real sense of excitement and buzz around working together in these early months.
Usually, as your choreographer, you're walking into companies who are established, and you're kind of bringing a new energy into that space. But it felt like we were all quite new as a group which I really liked. I was part of the process of bringing them together. Also, I think knowing that there's such support for the national dance company and me being a part of realising that, that feels really exciting too.
Lisa: Well, it's the first dance company that I've ever worked with, so I’m buzzed. It's very, very exciting and fun and fulfilling to work with a dance company and to see Sarah at work in studio creating something unreal with these incredible dancers. I feel like we have such a good vibe together. It has been so easy working with Sarah, it’s been such a great collaborative space.
What do you hope that audiences will take from the performance?
Sarah: I really hope that this performance will energise the audience and leave them on a high so that they’ll just want to keep dancing, chatting and socialising. Whether they join a dance class, or even just celebrate movement and togetherness in some way.
REVERB will open at Civic Theatre in Tallaght on September 11th at 7.30pm, with a second performance at 12.00pm on the 12th of September before it begins its nationwide tour, visiting Marketplace Theatre and Arts Centre Armagh, An Táin Arts Centre, Backstage, Riverbank Arts Centre, Hawk’s Well, Linenhall Arts Centre, and Limetree Theatre. Find out more here
