Līnger is a critically-acclaimed contemporary Irish dance duet for two male dancers at opposite ends of their dancing careers. Involving Breandán de Gallaí and Nick O’Connell, this immersive work addresses identity, ageing, and sexuality, and unfolds through a rich tapestry of music, movement, life-drawing, photography, and film. The show also deals with the subjective experience of time.
Lïnger is a meditation on masculinity, a concept that can mean many things, and it aims to leave the viewer a little closer to understanding its complexity. Considerable sections of the show include the deliberate choreographic choice of both performers dancing in unison, which Jane Berg interpreted so brilliantly in reviewing Lïnger at the Edinburgh Fringe:
“This simple contrast of sameness/difference is complex terrain for the subconscious to contemplate whilst being transported by a choreography of breath-taking unison. Teacher, pupil, father, son, lovers, or perhaps the same person, the sensitivity of the work encompasses all these possibilities.” Jane Berg | 2016
This duality: mentor/apprentice; lovers; the same person at different times; reinforces the aim to conjure a sense of “being neither here nor there” (Heaney 1998), a division into two states. Lïnger harnesses this contrast, the mercurial movements of youth juxtaposed with the more considered gestures of the less young making us reflect on the passage of time and who we are at various junctures of our lives.
This ground-breaking theatrical experience received stellar reviews and sell out successes at home in Ireland and at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2016, where it was shortlisted for the Festival’s coveted Total Theatre Awards.
“Linger is superb: a must-see full-on theatrical show … intensely moving … technically brilliant … breathtaking” Stephanie Green & Mark Harding | The Skinny 2016, 5-STAR RATING
“In one moment there is defiance and power … a proud living in the present. But there is also repression … a closed-eye uncertainty and vulnerability to outside forces. Linger skilfully manages these contradictory tensions that lie at the heart of human identity.” Michael Seaver | Irish Times 2016
“De Gallaí is pushing and playing with his inherited language in ways I’ve never seen before in Irish dance, and in the process exposing aspects of himself and his dance career with a seriousness that feels both tender and brave.” Judith Mackrell | The Guardian 2016
“Powerful, tender and achingly beautiful” Chris O’Rourke | Irish Examiner 2016
