"Before Language" featuring Niamh McKernan
'Before Language' acts upon a belief that creativity can empower a better future by encouraging sustainable new ways of thinking and communicating. Through performances and workshops we explore the origins of music and movement, offering audiences and participants an accessible route to creating their own art.
The performance piece presents a playful manipulation of every day materials and the human body to explore the transformative song and dance of nature, communicating an ethos that art can be found around each and every one of us.
The performance piece presents a playful manipulation of every day materials and the human body to explore the transformative song and dance of nature, communicating an ethos that art can be found around each and every one of us.
“Perhaps the immobility of the things that surround us is forced upon them… by the immobility of our conception of them.” Marcel Proust
Click to set custom HTML
Pictures by Benedetta Ubezio for Benni Carol Photography: https://www.facebook.com/BenniCarolPhotography
Research and Development - Sri Lanka
In November 2013, the project was invited for a research and development phase in Sri Lanka by The Commonwealth Resounds! an organisation who “seek to identify and promote outstanding musical initiatives in Commonwealth countries” through community events held in conjunction with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Sri Lanka had suffered from a 26-year civil war and now has a growing number of peace-building organisations who seek to connect people across the nation and thus was the perfect place to investigate various experiential ways of empowering communities through the tool of creativity. Workshops encouraged participants to use their environments as inspiration to create their own music and movement pieces. Thanks to a succesful crowdfunding campaign, we were able to execute our 10 day schedule which saw us working under three charities - The Serendipity Trust, Ocean Stars Trust and The Music Project and collecting artistic inspiration for the development of the performance piece which will be performed alongside future 'Before Language' projects in other communities.
Sri Lanka had suffered from a 26-year civil war and now has a growing number of peace-building organisations who seek to connect people across the nation and thus was the perfect place to investigate various experiential ways of empowering communities through the tool of creativity. Workshops encouraged participants to use their environments as inspiration to create their own music and movement pieces. Thanks to a succesful crowdfunding campaign, we were able to execute our 10 day schedule which saw us working under three charities - The Serendipity Trust, Ocean Stars Trust and The Music Project and collecting artistic inspiration for the development of the performance piece which will be performed alongside future 'Before Language' projects in other communities.
Photo Gallery from Research and Development in Sri Lanka
Niamh McKernan
She trained in Lecoq based physical theatre at the London international School of performing arts and continued to specialise in movement for actors during an MA at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is particularly interested in exploring the application of movement to composition and using the universal language of movement as a basis for collaborative practice. She works internationally as a performer, collaborator and movement teacher.