Shawbrook

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A creative space with a touch of magic in the Irish rural heartlands. Shawbrook manages a year round residency programme for professional dance artists.

Recognised internationally as a centre of excellence for dance & performance, Shawbrook has fostered a nurturing environment of dance creativity for over 35 years. From humble beginnings, Shawbrook is now home to dance studios, a theatre, an outdoor stage, a forest of oak, ash, and beech trees and a suite of accommodation. Our annual programme of events includes a year round International Artists-in-residence programme, Music and Dance performances at our Forest Stage area, and intensive professional development courses for dance artists.

12/10/2026

LETS GO!!! You know what to do! Cant wait to see all the exciting applications for 2027!

https://www.shawbrook.org/open-call-2027-1

DEADLINE: Monday the 26th October 2026 at 12 Midday GMT

05/10/2026

Last residency of 2026 always reminds us to start planning 2027! Tell a friend!!

Applications Live on October 12th! Please check read our website

https://www.shawbrook.org/open-call-2027-1

Supported by the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

27/09/2026

Our final residency for 2026!! Bringing the residencies to a close is the fabulous Nicola Moran! During her residency at Nicola will research and develop a new ground-based trio work exploring connection, resistance, and collective motion through harness and line work.

Working collaboratively with two dancers, the residency will investigate how bodies connected through harnesses and lines can create shifting physical relationships through contact, counterbalance, tension, and shared momentum. Through structured improvisation and physical experimentation, the project will explore themes of support, restriction, freedom, and surrender.

Supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

20/09/2026

Thomas Goetz is here in Shawbrook this week for his Creative Space Residency! In the “More than Human World”, complexity arises from simple interactions between many sentient beings (movers). Unlike an orchestra which is led by a conductor, emergent systems (in nature) are leaderless systems which are more than the sum of their parts.

They will use this residency as a laboratory for exploring “emergence” as both method and subject. They are an artist collective with primarily movement-based practices, some also working with sound and music. We will work co-creatively and envisage artistic outcomes to emerge from within the group in response to the environment. Their process combines somatic approaches, improvisation scores inspired by the ecological sciences and environmental listening.

Supported by the The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

14/09/2026

Carro Sharkey is starting her week long Creative Space Residency! Carro will be working on Railway Womb, Wandering Spine a choreographic work exploring the entanglement of gender, hysteria, and societal collapse through movement, sound, voice, and immersive performance.

Developed through collaboration between dancer and sound designer, the work combines choreography, theatricality, audience interaction, sound, and vocal experimentation to explore instability, transformation, and perception. Breath, strain, excess, and vocal fracture become choreographic and sonic tools that extend the body into space and towards the audience.

Supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

01/09/2026

We are enjoying Raquel Montero Calero jumping into her Creative Space Residency here in Shawbrook with full energy and force! Really excited to see her work progress. Join us Thursday the 10th of September at 7.30pm for a FREE sharing!

"Visceral'22 Remastered" is a work in progress piece of physical theatre. It explores the joy of fully engaging with our sensations and emotions throughout growth in the lifespan of the human using audio, visual, movement, dance, music and spoken words. In this residency we will explore the joy of connecting with ourselves, our memories, our loved ones and mother nature.

Photographer: David Grant

Supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

24/08/2026

This Thursday 27th August at 7.30pm in the BIG STUDIO we have a really exciting sharing from Luke Murphy.

Luke will share his work in progress Ingenium, a new performance work for three performers combining text, movement, and visual imagery.

Chat included afterwards in the Summer House. This is our second last sharing of 2026!

Supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

18/08/2026

Luke Murphy is back in Shawbrook this week for his Creative Space Residency!! During his residency, Luke will develop Ingenium, a new performance work for three performers combining text, movement, and visual imagery.

Set in a surreal world where ideas are endlessly produced and repackaged, the work follows two collaborators navigating the disintegration of a long-standing working relationship under the pressure of ambition, memory, and expectation. Blending dark humour with psychological tension, Ingenium explores creativity, commodification, and the relentless pursuit of potential.

Luke will use the residency at Shawbrook to stage and test the first section of the work, exploring the relationship between script, choreography, timing, and performance structure as the project moves toward its next phase of development.

Join us for a Free Sharing Thursday the 27th August at 7.30pm

Supported by Irish Arts Council

02/08/2026

Ever since last years residency we have been counting the days for his return! Welcome Back Mitch!! Australian choreographer Mitch Harvey returns for a two-week Performance Space Residency to continue developing Silent Mirror, a new contemporary dance theatre work exploring solitude, connection, and the evolving experience of loneliness throughout our lives.

Inspired by David Whyte's essay Alone, the work began as a duet created with Singaporean performer Zee Zunnur and emerged from questions around what it means to be truly alone. From the silence of isolation to the loneliness that can exist within relationships and communities, Silent Mirror reflects on the many ways we experience connection, separation, and belonging.

During this residency, the project will expand into a four-person intergenerational ensemble of Australian artists, working in close collaboration with composer Louis Frere-Harvey. The residency will focus on refining the choreography, developing the theatrical structure of the work, and exploring the integration of spoken text alongside movement and music.

Join us at Shawbrook for a special outdoor performance of Silent Mirror. This special sharing on Shawbrook's Forest Stage offers audiences a unique opportunity to experience a new work at a pivotal stage in its development before it tours.

Friday 14 August
Performance: 7.30pm

***Tickets nearly gone***
Check out our website for tickets - www.shawbrook.org/performance-space-2026

Proudly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.

12/07/2026

The mood is high the weather is unbelievable and the amazing Catherine Young joins us for her Creative Space Residency!!!! During her residency at Shawbrook, Catherine will begin the early development of a new work, Lions Arising in our Minds, exploring memory, vulnerability, resilience, and the body’s ability to retain what the mind cannot.

A long-time creative home for Catherine Young Dance, Shawbrook will provide the space for an initial devising process focused on dramaturgy, structure, movement, and sound. Working alongside collaborators including sound designer Alan Kelly, Music Director Martin Shaner, dramaturg Hanna Slattne, and dancers, the residency will investigate two possible directions for the piece — a trio featuring three generations of women, or a solo work centred on one woman’s story.

Supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

Address

Shawbrook
Legan
N39RD74

Website

http://www.shawbrook.org/

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