Emma Martin / United Fall Birdboy
Freesheet
About Birdboy
Birdboy is a tribute to all the weird kids left on the sidelines. Using the metaphor of a bird, and it’s perceived freedom, the piece burrows inside the chaotic and vivid inner world of someone who doesn’t fit in. Through a child’s eyes and combining dance, sound and objects, Birdboy is a journey through a frenzied and sometimes beautiful landscape of fear, isolation, fantasy and letting go, performed by dancer Kévin Coquelard.
Birdboy is the first work that Emma has made for both young and adult audiences.
About Emma Martin / United Fall
Emma Martin started out as a ballet dancer. As a choreographer her work spans dance, theatre opera and film. She creates multidisciplinary work often combining dance with live music, theatre, creating distinct visual universes with each piece, always with a raw style of dance as its heart.
She graduated from the John Cranko School, in Stuttgart, and has a BA in Russian and Drama & Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin. As a choreographer she made her first show in 2010, and now produces work through her company United Fall since 2018.
She created Birdboy in 2019, and since then it has been performed around Ireland, UK and Europe and was an Aerowaves 23 selection.
Her previous works include King/ Shrine, Night Dances, Orfeo ed Euridice, Girl Song, Dancehall, Tundra. She has presented her work at Dublin Theatre Festival, Dublin Dance Festival, Galway International Arts Festival, Cork Midsummer Festival, Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Tanec Praha, Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Aesthetica, and Dublin International Film Festival.
She has created 2 short films: Dolorosa 2022 and I AM IRELAND 2020.
United Fall is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland with international touring generously supported by Culture Ireland. United Fall is the resident dance company at VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art.
I want my dances to be felt- movement that brings emotion and feeling and opens up a porous exchange between dancer and audience, honouring the invisible cellular energetic connective tissue the joins us, all of us pouring out reaching for that thing beyond our grasp, sharing the same air, dreaming into new realities together. I’m interested in the friction between rawness and refinement, high art and popular culture, past and future, order and chaos, homage and intent.
Artistic Team & Credits
Created by Emma Martin in collaboration with:
Performer Kévin Coquelard
Stage and Costume Design Orla Clogher and Emma Martin
Sound and Composition Dunk Murphy
Lighting Designer Stephen Dodd
Voiceover Faolán Ó Mhurchú-Toner
Stage Manager Sinead Cormack
LX Programmer Susan Collins
Production Manager Peter Jordan
Technical Manager Conor Burnell
Video and Image Luca Truffarelli
Supported by:
Emma Martin/United Fall is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland with international touring supported by Culture Ireland.