Irish Arts Center and O.D Works Ltd  are pleased to announce the search for young dance artists to participate in the North American premiere of acclaimed Northern Irish choreographer Oona Doherty’s Hard to be Soft, named by the Guardian as the number one dance show of 2019.

Created by Belfast-based choreographer and dancer Oona Doherty, with driving music by DJ David Holmes (Killing Eve, Ocean’s Eleven, Hunger), Hard to Be Soft looks behind the masks of violence and machismo to the inner lives of Belfast hard men and strong women.

Cast in four episodes, Hard to Be Soft features solos from Doherty herself, a warrior-like hip-hop dance group called The Sugar Army, and a choreographed wrestling match for a male duet. Using rich, sometimes unsettling imagery from Belfast street life and ritual, and set inside a massive, gleaming cage, it contrasts shocking power with meditative stillness.

Oona Doherty is a multi-award-winning choreographer who creates intense, compelling works that appeal for societal change, and we are excited about the opportunity for a group of New York-based performers to work with her one-on-one on this important work.

We are looking for 8-10 local young female dancers, aged between 12 and 22 to perform a 7-minute contemporary dance segment within a larger performance. Ideally, dancers will be drawn from a single dance troupe or class under the leadership of a single individual who can act as as the point person for the venue and the dancers, helping disseminate schedules and other communications to the performers. Irish Arts Center will offer a fee for performers, to be discussed based on experience. No official auditions will be held.

If interested, please contact Kestrel Wolgemuth at kestrel@irishartscenter.org

The time commitment includes:

In person training and rehearsals with the choreographer (about 4 hours/day):

Monday, January 3, 2022

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Thursday, January 6, 2022

Friday, January 7, 2022

Saturday, January 8, 2022 – hold for possible make-up session

Show and rehearsal schedule (subject to change):

The show will take place over two weekends in January 2022, with one tech rehearsal.

Monday, January 10, 2022 – Rehearsal (TBD)

Tuesday, January 11, 2022 – Rehearsal (TBD)

Wednesday, January 12, 2022 – Tech Rehearsal

Thursday, January 13, 2022 – Performance #1

Friday, January 14, 2022 – Performance #2

Saturday, January 15, 2022 – Performance #3

Sunday, January 16, 2022 – Performance #4

Thursday, January 20, 2022 – Performance #5

Friday, January 21, 2022 – Performance #6

Saturday, January 22, 2022 – Performance #7

Sunday, January 23, 2022 – Performance #8