Challenging year gives way to a new season of creative dance...

It has been a momentous year for Londonderry Dance Studio Echo Echo, with the formal opening of their impressive new suite of dance and office space at Magazine Street.
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Dec 2014, 16:00 BST
The Mayor, Councillor Brenda Stevenson pictured at the official opening of the Echo Echo Dance & Movement Studios with, from left, Pauline Ross, Director of The Playhouse, Steve Batts, Artistic Director and co-founder of Echo Echo, Caoimhin Corrigan, Ilex City of Culture Capital Fund, Mary McLaughlin, Walled City Partnership/Townscape Heritage Initiative, and Tina McCauley, Chair of Echo Echo. INLS4214-123KMThe Mayor, Councillor Brenda Stevenson pictured at the official opening of the Echo Echo Dance & Movement Studios with, from left, Pauline Ross, Director of The Playhouse, Steve Batts, Artistic Director and co-founder of Echo Echo, Caoimhin Corrigan, Ilex City of Culture Capital Fund, Mary McLaughlin, Walled City Partnership/Townscape Heritage Initiative, and Tina McCauley, Chair of Echo Echo. INLS4214-123KM
The Mayor, Councillor Brenda Stevenson pictured at the official opening of the Echo Echo Dance & Movement Studios with, from left, Pauline Ross, Director of The Playhouse, Steve Batts, Artistic Director and co-founder of Echo Echo, Caoimhin Corrigan, Ilex City of Culture Capital Fund, Mary McLaughlin, Walled City Partnership/Townscape Heritage Initiative, and Tina McCauley, Chair of Echo Echo. INLS4214-123KM

Now that the team have settled into their new home, plans are well underway for a dynamic and creative start to the New year, with a range of dance and movement classes. A range of ‘guest classes’ are also planned. (See side panel, right, or scan the QR Code with your Smartphone to go to the Echo Echo site.) Echo Echo will be re-opening after the festive season on January 5.

Reflecting on the past year, Echo Echo’s Ailbe Beirne said the highlights of the past year included the Primary Schools Dance Development Project that took place in March, in which over 200 local schoolchildren took part. The intiative was funded by DCAL Creativity Month.

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The inspirational ‘The Cove’ dance and movement event, based on the rugged coastal landscape of Stroove in Inishowen saw a re-staging of the original Echo Echo production and five public performances in May.

The Without large-scale co-production with Rosemary Lee toured to Dublin Dance Festival 2014, supported by British Council, and earned itself a four-star review in the Irish Times in May, while Body Wisdom saw public performances of ‘those we don’t see any more’ in a new devised work by an over-50’s ensemble. Body Wisdom was the final project of the WEA and showcased in June.

Company Development Week in July saw 25 local and international artists and committed individuals descend on Echo Echo for a series of intensive development sessions led by Artistic Director Steve Batts, but in October there was great cause for celebration with the Echo Echo team celebrated the Official Opening of Echo Echo Dance and Movement Studios.

In November Ludo Lusi Lusum took centre stage. A new work, it was devised and produced by an all-Echo Echo Ensemble and the Echo Echo Festival of Dance & Movement rounded off the month in grand style.

To contact Echo Echo telephone 028 7130 8883.

Related topics:Inishowen