About
Trans-disciplinary practice towards connection, empowerment and diversity.
Undercurrent, formed by Wilson in 2016, is distinctive because of the diversity of backgrounds of the ensemble and the themes explored. The company evolved from Wilson’s ongoing study of the potential for trained movement from disciplines other than dance, in the development of contemporary dance. With long term international and Ireland based collaborators Undercurrent creates site specific performance and theatre performances. Undercurrent is also committed to long term engagements with community groups and is involved in ongoing trans-disciplinary research. Projects are widely supported by Arts Council Ireland, festivals and local funding bodies, and performances, out reach and research continues to challenge boundaries and expectations in both dance practice and inclusiveness in the arts.
Artistic Director and Founder
Kate Wilson has a background is in visual art and dance. Her practice, based in the north west of Ireland, is trans-disciplinary and collaborative. She is a graduate of the Slade School of Art (BA Hons) and has an MA (Distinction) in Creative Practice for Professional Dance Practitioners from Independent Dance & Trinity Laban, London.
Current research includes the use of online platforms and 360 camera technology with a focus on implications for performers with restricted mobility and embodied approaches to movement and image creation within improvised duet and portrait forms. Wilson’s work as a painter is represented in both civic and private collections in Ireland, UK & Germany.
She is also a recipient of a number of awards and major commissions including RHA award of distinction, and commissioned portrait of the writer John McGahern.Her performance works with Undercurrent include, Unearth, Under the Surface, Blackbird and Winter Ground, and recent intergenerational project Magnetise, was shortlisted for LAMA awards. Her ongoing Dance Share initiative at Sligo centre for direct provision continues to receive local and national support.
Co-Founder
Isolde Ó'Brolcháin Carmody met Wilson in 2015 at a trans-disciplinary workshop. This meeting and invitation to dance reignited a passion for performance that had been dormant since becoming a wheelchair user some years earlier. Undercurrent company was founded a year later with Isolde as a core member collaborating in many of its performance projects to date.
A theatre and philosophy (MA) graduate Carmody brought to the company many years experience in wide spectrum of movement and text based practices. She is a recipient of national arts awards including Arts and Disability Awards Ireland and local awards for solo work and ensemble works including one woman show Mamó; A Story of Geraldine Plunkett Dillon, directed by Donal O’Kelly. Carmody is co-founder of Women Independently Living in Leitrim, (WILL) a sub-group of LAPWD for women with and without disabilities in Leitrim and surrounding areas.
She is also co-founder of Full Spectrum Disabled LGBTI+ Peer Network, a grass-roots community organisation to support and empower disabled people on the island of Ireland who identify as LGBTI+. She also designs and delivers Web-Spinning, an online writers’ group for disabled adults in the North-West of Ireland supported by Independent Living Movement Ireland.
Assistant Director
Gaelin Little is founder of Eleven Farrer House and Compass Dance both of which are based in the UK. She works in the UK and internationally in the fields of dance, choreography, therapy and education and is a practicing dance therapist. Somatic bodywork practices underlie her relationship to performing, making and community facilitation. Her work is influenced by contact improvisation, site-specific instillation, film and creative writing, positioning itself within trans-disciplinary and expanded artistic practice.
Gaelin became a core member of Undercurrent's Magnetise Project in 2019 and has brought invaluable experience and depth of knowledge to the project. Gaelin is assistant director for Undercurrent projects such as Unearth as well as a core performer for the company.