CoisCéim Reveal New Dance Show About Former Project Arts Centre Director

Berlin-born Agnes Bernelle worked for British Special Operations during World War II as a 'Black Propaganda' radio announcer in Germany. She later became an international actress and cabaret singer, and spent the last years of her life in Dublin where she worked as Creative Director of Project Arts Centre

CoisCéim Dance Theatre launched their artistic programme for 2014 today. New collaborations see David Bolger and company donating their catalogue of twenty years' work to the National Dance Archive of Ireland (making them the first dance company to do so) as well as a residency in the National Gallery in February to develop a special performance in the gallery in June to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

Most exciting is the March premiere of the company's next dance piece AGNES - a work based on the life of Agnes Bernelle.

Berlin-born Bernelle worked for British Special Operations during World War II as a radio announcer using 'Black Propaganda' - providing propaganda seemingly for one side of a conflict but actually working for the other. Her work on the airwaves once tricked a German captain of a U-boat to admit surrender. She fled Germany and became a noted stage actress and cabaret singer, later lending vocals to records by Elvis Costello and Tom Waits. She spent the later years of her life living in Dublin with her husband whilst working as Creative Director of Project Arts Centre. AGNES, appropriately, is a co-production between CoisCéim and Project Arts Centre.

A COISCéIM DUETS programme sees touring dates for Bolger's SWIMMING WITH MY MOTHER - a duet between the choreographer and his mother which celebrates a mother and son and their love for dance and swimming - as well as for the poignant dance vigil for missing persons: MISSING.

I'm glad MISSING will be getting to tour. It didn't receive the level of promotion as CoisCéim's other new show this year, PAGEANT, but it's a much more powerful work. Instead of waiting until 2014 you can catch it as part of the company's current CoisCéim CONNECTIONS festival at St Patrick's College Drumcondra on Nov 5th and the new Dance Limerick venue on Nov 7th. Also, a non-ticketed site-specific dance entitled THE ART OF PERFORMANCE, an exploration of the essence of performance itself performed by Emma O'Kane and Mónica Munoz Marín, takes place in the National Gallery on Nov 9th.