From Down to Southbank

From Down to Southbank

4 February 2015

A DANCE company set for the prestigious Southbank in London is performing in Down Arts Centre later this month.

Maiden Voyage Dance will be performing their acclaimed Quartet for 15 Chairs in Downpatrick on February 24, with other stops on its Irish tour including the MAC in Belfast.

The work – choreographed by Enrique Cabrera with an original score from Belfast Music Laureate Brian Irvine – aims to bring the delight of music, dance and laughter to families and children of all ages.

For Maiden Voyage Dance, community wellbeing is central to its wider mission. According to the Belfast-based company, all arts, and in particular dance, can help individuals overcome anxiety and isolation, strengthen community cohesion and encourage young people to reach beyond their immediate environment and achieve their dreams.

 “It is crucial to expose children to the arts from a young age,” said Artistic Director Nicola Curry,  “It allows them to experience what can be created when you use your imagination, and shows them first-hand how the arts are not something locked away in a box in a museum – the arts are alive and playful.

“We are delighted that the prestigious Southbank Centre is hosting Maiden Voyage Dance and we have the opportunity to present dance from Northern Ireland to a wider audience. However it is important to point out that works like Quartet for 15 Chairs grow out of the wider vibrant arts culture that we enjoy in Northern Ireland and that culture needs to be supported”.

Maiden Voyage Dance works in partnership with other arts and cultural groups and health and education organisations. In one recent project – Patterns of Play with Open Arts and Luminous Soul dance group - dancers with disability performed for large audiences in Coleraine, Belfast and London.

Maiden Voyage forms part of arts advocacy group #ArtsMatterNI, made up of professionals, participants and volunteers from across Northern Ireland.