Bereavement Support Line 1800 80 70 77

Dance and Movement Map Experiences of Loss

solosirens

SoloSIRENs have wrapped up their Compassionate Culture Network workshops which began in November 2021 at The Civic Theatre, Tallaght, Dublin.  

Director Jenny Macdonald, ably supported by coordinator Jennifer Webster, worked with the SoloSIRENs Collective, an intergenerational, intercultural group of women based in and around Tallaght.  

In keeping with the ethos and methodologies of SoloSIRENs, they used theatre devising techniques to facilitate an exploration of personal journeys with loss. This included focussing on how we can support one another to share what needs to be shared, and how that sharing can find a collective expression.  

As Jenny Macdonald explains:

“The aim was to give us all a little space to breathe. To say what needs to be said, to hear what needs to be heard, and to do so in a context of true support and collaboration. The starting point was an investigation of how and where grief lives within us and how it’s experienced by the body.

Things don’t change without a critical mass and sometimes we can only see ourselves in the mirror of the other. I know that it’s only by looking into the faces of bravery that I’ve found the courage to be brave” 

As can be seen from these wonderful images, SoloSIRENs explored dance and movement to create individual and group choreographies and to map experiences within the space. In addition, they used poetry, writing and storytelling as aspects of the process.  

The name SoloSIRENs comes from a series of interviews written by New York journalist, Jacquelyn Claire profiling courageous women in theatre. It was these interviews that inspired Jenny Macdonald to establish SoloSIRENS with the express intention of uplifting and amplifying the voices of women everywhere.  

×