Balor by Na Mic Ua gCorra (Ériu’s youth branch)
Ériu’s newest initiative is Na Mic Ua gCorra, which is our youth branch of Ériu, and is Donegal-based. The initiative is in partnership with the Earagail Arts Festival, who have been involved since the project’s genesis. We plan to launch the company and première the inaugural work, Balor na Súile Nimhe, in 2021 at the Earagail Arts Festival in Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair, Co. Donegal, pandemic permitting.
The dance-show, which is based on the ancient Donegal myth of Balor of the Evil Eye, provides a professional platform for the young talented dancers (and eventually musicians and actors) from the region, and involves training, mentorship, and professional performance opportunities. The long-term goal is to present a new piece at the Earagail Arts Festival every year or 2, and to tour the company nationally and internationally.
Additional funders that have recently come on board include Foras na Gaeilge and Creative Ireland (Co. Donegal).
Na Mic Ua gCorra
Na Mic Ua gCorra celebrates the local traditional performance arts of the NorthWest through new and innovative ways in their presentation – reinventing and reinvigorating the music, song, dance, and oral arts, and making work that is relevant for each new generation to come.
The long-term aim of the Mic Ua gCorra initiative is to create a youth company based in Gaoth Dobhair and housed at Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair.
The company will eventually create varied and rich high quality productions. It will present the traditional arts as an ever-evolving, contemporary concern, offering the public presentations that are very much Donegal in terms of tradition and modernity, coexisting in harmony on the same platform.
Performance works will be a fusing of all the traditional art-forms: music, song and dance; drama and spoken word; delivering enriching and moving experiences for the audience.
From a staging and treatment perspective, shows produced by Na Mic Ua gCorra will be thematically contemporary and challenging, at once honouring and nurturing the local traditional performance arts, while remaining relevant to the young performers.
Na Mic Ua gCorra Company Pillars
- Modern and relevant interpretations of the local traditional arts
- The young aspiring performer sharing the stage with the professional
- An Ghaeilge
Na Mic Ua gCorra Long-Term Plan
The initiative has a 5-year plan, broken down as follows:
- Year 1 – 2019: Mic Ua gCorra Summer Workshop and Sharing (Dance)
- Year 2 – 2020: Mic Ua gCorra Summer Workshop 2 and Sharing (more involved and developed, including Dance, Music, and Drama)
- Year 3 – 2021: Mic Ua gCorra Summer Season with premiere of fully produced show involving Dance, Music, and Drama
- Year 4 & 5: A new show for each season
The initiative will be a regular fixture of the Earagail Arts Festival.
