This Is It | 8 dance portraits
Joan Davis, the veteran dancer and pioneer of contemporary dance in Ireland, says with conviction, 'I was a dancer, and I still am." The words are spoken as part of Laura Murphy's textured, understated 'This Is It: 8 Portraits...Eight Irish women dancers and performers are interviewed or talked about, off camera, about what it is they do and why, analysing and reflecting on immersiveness, process, discipline, improvisation and dedication.
4 * | Seona MacReamoinn | The Irish Times | 2024
Read More
A mesmerising collaboration, each individual and diverse segment expounds uniquely and distinctly.
4 * | Louise Tallon | The Reviews Hub | 2024
Read More
Dancers have notoriously short careers. The dance artist and director Laura Murphy graciously offers greater longevity by noting them in this film. A collection of multimedia portraits, this welcome exploration challenges notions of what we view as success.
The Irish Times | 2024
A rare look into the life of a dancer beyond the performance, the film has been celebrated for its brave, dedicated subjects and the intimacies of what happens in the shadows of a career often measured by how long one has spent in the limelight, challenging preconceptions of what is meant by words like 'success' while exploring the women's values and philosophies.
Totally Dublin | 2024
Each of them told me how dance was expressed in their lives. Some talked to me about parenting, others spoke about childhood, or farming, or philosophy. They all had different takes on it, but I heard a common need to be connected to their moving bodies and to their selves.
rte.ie | 2024
Read More
There is no one trajectory in the career of a dancer...there's form and aesthetics there. But there's not only one form and one aesthetic...it's an art form at the end of the day.
Evening Echo | 2024
Read More
The Shake
The Shake can feel like a hooley, a concert or even a dance class. It's all of these combined, and none. It's an intergenerational piece that brings together family and friends, strangers and colleagues. Perhaps first and foremost, it offers a space for all those who love to dance to come together and celebrate moving their bodies.
rte.ie | 2022
Read More
The audience was an impressive mix of ages and sizes. While it was great to watch the children, you couldn't help but be impressed with the agility and endurance of some of the older members of the audience, as they grooved for the full sixty minutes of the set. At the end of a festival where we've ween some amazing displays by extremely talented performers, it was good to remember that dance isn't just for the professionals.
Nomoreworkshorse.com | 2022
Read More
Tide
Fascinating loops and strivings and startlements that you evolve under an open sky.
Nickolson Baker | Writer | 2020
Abacus
Abacus enthralled and fascinated Dublin Fringe audiences. The work is monumental and striking, performed with powerful precision and intent.
Kris Nelson, Curator | Dublin Fringe Festival 2017
Abacus is a highly accomplished, rigorous and atmospheric piece of work that really connected to The National Sculpture Factory site, echoing days of factory work on the assembly line. Choreographed beautifully by Laura Murphy resulting in a mesmerising piece of movement and sound.
Kath Gorman, Curator | Cork Midsummer Festival 2016
It was a highly sought after show which created really stimulating audience experiences and interactions.
Mary Mc Carthy | Director National Sculpture Factory Cork & Chair Culture Ireland
Wunderbar
Abstract puzzles based around interdependence make for a gripping piece of dance...
...there is a pulse to this piece which makes this duo a definite to watch
Lucy Ribchester | The List, Edinburgh International Festival 2016
Read More
Wunderbar is a compelling physical expression of commonly felt emotions; the entanglement of confusion and desire that constitutes many relationships, and is guaranteed to hold the audience captive throughout
Laura Marriott | The Public Reviews, Project Arts Centre 2015
Read More
Wunderbar, by Laura Murphy and Rob Heaslip is a carefully constructed and impeccably performed investigation into partnerships where the dancers seek equilibrium within shifting personal dynamics
Michael Seaver | The Irish Times, Dublin Dance Festival 2014
Read More
Wunderbar begins with a fall and ends on a high. It has the trajectory of a firework; it rises through a graceful arc and explodes. These dancers were never going to fall, or let the audience down. Wunderbar soars in the memory long after the audience has crashed back to earth.
Stephen Darcy Collins | Writer, Dublin Dance Festival 2014
Read More
A Dance Concerto
"Bravura" is a word that could also be applied to the first presentation of the festival...Choreographer Laura Murphy and composer Irene Buckley create a sequence of continious movement, hypnotic in its pace and in the visual effect of its rank of black-clad dancers, all obedient to an orchestra of tins.
It's splendidly original; one doesn't really expect food cans to be quite so active.
Mary Leland | The Irish Times, Cork Midsummer Festival 2014
Read More
This was a success even before it premiered, since it drew in members of the public who might never thought of dance before, let alone participated in a performance.
The capacity audience also testified to that success. Lively toddlers lay, chins on hands, watching every movement with delight. Older watchers were fascinated by the ways in which sound could be drawn from such basic, everyday objects.
Jo Kerrigan | Irish Examiner, Cork Midsummer Festival 2014
Read More
Choreographer Laura Murphy locates the humanity in mass production, and music where others hear noise.
A Dance Concerto presents the humble 'can' as never seen before.
Stephen Darcy Collins | Dance Voices, Cork Midsummer Festival 2014
Read More
A Dance Brew
Laura Murphy's nine months as dancer-in-residence at Firkin Crane ended last week with a fascinating, eclectic performance
Jo Kerrigan | Irish Examiner, A Dance Brew, Firkin Crane 2013
A Dance Concerto 2010
..under the tutelage of Laura Murphy and Ailish Claffey we'll learn to loosen up, acquire a sense of space and movement, and shortly cease to worry...
Jemma Tipton | The Irish Times, Kinsale Arts Week 2010
Like Sisters
Laura Murphy and Ailish Claffey gave us 20 minutes that were also musical, but in a more intimate, gentle and yet eccentric manner
Colin Murphy | The Independent, Project Arts Centre 2009
Joan Davis, the veteran dancer and pioneer of contemporary dance in Ireland, says with conviction, 'I was a dancer, and I still am." The words are spoken as part of Laura Murphy's textured, understated 'This Is It: 8 Portraits...Eight Irish women dancers and performers are interviewed or talked about, off camera, about what it is they do and why, analysing and reflecting on immersiveness, process, discipline, improvisation and dedication.
4 * | Seona MacReamoinn | The Irish Times | 2024
Read More
A mesmerising collaboration, each individual and diverse segment expounds uniquely and distinctly.
4 * | Louise Tallon | The Reviews Hub | 2024
Read More
Dancers have notoriously short careers. The dance artist and director Laura Murphy graciously offers greater longevity by noting them in this film. A collection of multimedia portraits, this welcome exploration challenges notions of what we view as success.
The Irish Times | 2024
A rare look into the life of a dancer beyond the performance, the film has been celebrated for its brave, dedicated subjects and the intimacies of what happens in the shadows of a career often measured by how long one has spent in the limelight, challenging preconceptions of what is meant by words like 'success' while exploring the women's values and philosophies.
Totally Dublin | 2024
Each of them told me how dance was expressed in their lives. Some talked to me about parenting, others spoke about childhood, or farming, or philosophy. They all had different takes on it, but I heard a common need to be connected to their moving bodies and to their selves.
rte.ie | 2024
Read More
There is no one trajectory in the career of a dancer...there's form and aesthetics there. But there's not only one form and one aesthetic...it's an art form at the end of the day.
Evening Echo | 2024
Read More
The Shake
The Shake can feel like a hooley, a concert or even a dance class. It's all of these combined, and none. It's an intergenerational piece that brings together family and friends, strangers and colleagues. Perhaps first and foremost, it offers a space for all those who love to dance to come together and celebrate moving their bodies.
rte.ie | 2022
Read More
The audience was an impressive mix of ages and sizes. While it was great to watch the children, you couldn't help but be impressed with the agility and endurance of some of the older members of the audience, as they grooved for the full sixty minutes of the set. At the end of a festival where we've ween some amazing displays by extremely talented performers, it was good to remember that dance isn't just for the professionals.
Nomoreworkshorse.com | 2022
Read More
Tide
Fascinating loops and strivings and startlements that you evolve under an open sky.
Nickolson Baker | Writer | 2020
Abacus
Abacus enthralled and fascinated Dublin Fringe audiences. The work is monumental and striking, performed with powerful precision and intent.
Kris Nelson, Curator | Dublin Fringe Festival 2017
Abacus is a highly accomplished, rigorous and atmospheric piece of work that really connected to The National Sculpture Factory site, echoing days of factory work on the assembly line. Choreographed beautifully by Laura Murphy resulting in a mesmerising piece of movement and sound.
Kath Gorman, Curator | Cork Midsummer Festival 2016
It was a highly sought after show which created really stimulating audience experiences and interactions.
Mary Mc Carthy | Director National Sculpture Factory Cork & Chair Culture Ireland
Wunderbar
Abstract puzzles based around interdependence make for a gripping piece of dance...
...there is a pulse to this piece which makes this duo a definite to watch
Lucy Ribchester | The List, Edinburgh International Festival 2016
Read More
Wunderbar is a compelling physical expression of commonly felt emotions; the entanglement of confusion and desire that constitutes many relationships, and is guaranteed to hold the audience captive throughout
Laura Marriott | The Public Reviews, Project Arts Centre 2015
Read More
Wunderbar, by Laura Murphy and Rob Heaslip is a carefully constructed and impeccably performed investigation into partnerships where the dancers seek equilibrium within shifting personal dynamics
Michael Seaver | The Irish Times, Dublin Dance Festival 2014
Read More
Wunderbar begins with a fall and ends on a high. It has the trajectory of a firework; it rises through a graceful arc and explodes. These dancers were never going to fall, or let the audience down. Wunderbar soars in the memory long after the audience has crashed back to earth.
Stephen Darcy Collins | Writer, Dublin Dance Festival 2014
Read More
A Dance Concerto
"Bravura" is a word that could also be applied to the first presentation of the festival...Choreographer Laura Murphy and composer Irene Buckley create a sequence of continious movement, hypnotic in its pace and in the visual effect of its rank of black-clad dancers, all obedient to an orchestra of tins.
It's splendidly original; one doesn't really expect food cans to be quite so active.
Mary Leland | The Irish Times, Cork Midsummer Festival 2014
Read More
This was a success even before it premiered, since it drew in members of the public who might never thought of dance before, let alone participated in a performance.
The capacity audience also testified to that success. Lively toddlers lay, chins on hands, watching every movement with delight. Older watchers were fascinated by the ways in which sound could be drawn from such basic, everyday objects.
Jo Kerrigan | Irish Examiner, Cork Midsummer Festival 2014
Read More
Choreographer Laura Murphy locates the humanity in mass production, and music where others hear noise.
A Dance Concerto presents the humble 'can' as never seen before.
Stephen Darcy Collins | Dance Voices, Cork Midsummer Festival 2014
Read More
A Dance Brew
Laura Murphy's nine months as dancer-in-residence at Firkin Crane ended last week with a fascinating, eclectic performance
Jo Kerrigan | Irish Examiner, A Dance Brew, Firkin Crane 2013
A Dance Concerto 2010
..under the tutelage of Laura Murphy and Ailish Claffey we'll learn to loosen up, acquire a sense of space and movement, and shortly cease to worry...
Jemma Tipton | The Irish Times, Kinsale Arts Week 2010
Like Sisters
Laura Murphy and Ailish Claffey gave us 20 minutes that were also musical, but in a more intimate, gentle and yet eccentric manner
Colin Murphy | The Independent, Project Arts Centre 2009