Luail – Ireland's National Dance Company will revive Philip Connaughton’s Trojans this month – opening at Project Arts Centre in Dublin before touring to Galway and Lisburn.
Inspired by Virgil’s The Aeneid, Trojans explores universal themes of war and power, destruction, and displacement. Staged in the round, the piece features a contemporary score from Oberman Knocks with visuals by Luca Truffarelli.
Philip, with Artistic Director of Luail, Liz Roche and dance veteran and Trojans performer Joanna Banks discussed the importance of reviving dance work in Ireland, the excitement of staging a piece in the round, and Joanna’s reflection on working with Ireland’s new national dance company, bringing over 60 years of experience as a dance artist to the collaboration.
PC: We created Trojans for Cork Midsummer in 2023. It did well at the time, but so often in dance once you make a piece it lives a short lifespan and can disappear into the ether. It’s incredible to bring it back and to give it another life.
LR: This is the second work that we’ve revived since Luail was established two years ago. Trojans explores a lot of very timely issues, and I felt this was a production that needed to be remembered in the future. By staging this in the round, as an audience it puts you a place of being active. You’re being told what to do, you’re following the rules, but you are free to break the rules. I think that experience will stay with people.
War, power, migration – these themes are so embedded in our culture. It's interesting for the audience to be given the responsibility to consider these themes in a very immersive way.
PC: Yes, because within the framework of a theatre, we go somewhere, we’ve paid for our ticket, and we’ve made an agreement that we’re going to follow the rules. When the audience is asked to move around the stage we are breaking the rules in a way. If the audience is on stage at the start of the performance, side by side with the dancers, by the time they sit down they’re already on the journey.
JB: I think it becomes a shared experience for both dancer and audience. As a performer it's scary, the adrenaline soars. But it’s exciting. We have created this intimate, safe space where things can happen between dancer and the audience.
LR: Also, given that Luail is so new, I wanted to build the audience’s connection to the national dance company. In that gap between audience and stage, it’s very easy to keep that distance. When I first saw the piece, it struck me as being a moment for people to be together, to confront certain themes together.
PC: Because, of the things that come up in Trojans – war, power, migration – these themes are so embedded in our culture. It’s interesting for the audience to be given the responsibility to consider these themes in a very immersive way.
JB: And, as dancers, when we first performed the piece in 2023, we all had to go on our own personal journey to bring what was necessary to the piece – we are given this responsibility. All the Luail dancers will come on their own journey, as myself and the previous cast did – and they all have an enormous amount to give.
PC: Joanna, I see the company working with you, and there's such a level of respect – it’s so nice to see.
LR: Yes, Jo, I heard you say the other day "let them make it more from themselves", and I think that comes from your vast experience. I think it has been such a collaborative experience for everyone in the room.
JB: Well, it’s really nice to have that opportunity. I said to Philip, "I don’t want to be the diva". It’s not how I operate, I always prefer to be in with the dancers; I’m one of them.
PC: I think the thing is, regardless or your dreams or your hopes or your ego – it’s about keeping the artist busy enough and excited enough. If they are focussed that’s what is interesting for me. I’m not doubting them and they’re not doubting themselves, they are present.
LR: I think that is what performance does. It keeps us in the moment, even just for 60 minutes. We’re constantly distracted and never present. In a world that’s falling apart, that’s what I hope Luail might be able to give to people through its productions.
PC: Watching a show like Trojans, you can feel a bit more human, you get to see the sweat, and the struggle and the difficulty and the challenge, and that’s life – and nothing’s changed.
Trojans will open on Thursday 26th of March at Project Arts Centre and will run there until 4th March. It will run at Black Box Theatre in Galway 10th and 11th of April and at Island Hall at Lagan Valley Island Arts Centre in Lisburn on 29th and 30th April - find out more here
