Carrying Wood

“Carrying Wood” is a dance and film performance created by choreographer and dance artist Linda Schirmer, presented as part of the exhibition  the branch, the fork, the harrow curated by Alannah Robins, 

Linda Schirmer has engaged with the unique site of Interface artists residency in the Inagh valley, Connnemara on a year-round basis over the last number of years. She has observed changes in the environment with the changing seasons and created a filmic and embodied record of her movements and responses to it.  As a live performance piece, her work acts as a barometer, or a mirror, to the ecology of place. “Carrying Wood” reflects on our connection and dependence upon resources drawn from rural geographies. It explores the cultural practice of collecting firewood and touches on the complexities of energy crisis.

Linda Schirmer is a choreographer, dance artist and facilitator with a practice which is deeply embedded in the land surrounding her. She especially enjoys site-specific work as rooted in people’s connection to land, folklore and the environment. She was educated at the Leipzig State Ballet School and has a strong Dance Theatre background, holding an MA in theatre. Performances include those at the Pina Bausch Exhibition, Kunsthalle Bonn and Leipzig Opera House, the Druid Theatre, and Dublin Dance Festival. For several years, she worked at the Dance Archive, Leipzig, focusing on Rudolf von Laban’s legacy. She is a recipient of the North-West Dance Residency, Baboró Mentoring Program and the Dance Commission Award from Interface Inagh. Her work has been funded and supported by the Arts Council Ireland, Galway Dance Project, Interface Inagh, Clifden Arts Festival, Culture Night, Interkulturelle Bildung Thüringen e.V., Mehrgenerationenhaus, Volkshochschule Hildburghausen, Diakonie among others