The Night of the Big Wind & Shift(h)er

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The Night of the Big Wind & Shift(h)er have been selected for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival September 5th - 7th 2013. These productions will be a double-bill, full of fabulous moves by spectacular dance artists, plus live musicians, original sound, set and costume design. The Night of the Big Wind is a provocative work encapsulating the essence of Irish culture with a unique physicality. Shift(h)er is a bittersweet love story that brings the emotional torrents of heartbreak to the stage with a chameleon of qualities and surprises.

‘I wasn’t prepared for my heart to be captured... I’m left with an overwhelming texture to the Irish culture, a feeling of ritual, a treat to the eyes, and an opening to the heart and ears.
(The Night of the Big Wind, Sheena Good, Orangelephant Society June 2013)

‘At the conclusion of this piece, the stage exhibited Ms. Christofi-Walshe’s mind as if it had bursted open spreading forth all the trinkets of the heartbreak junkie. The papers, the memories in frames, the audio tracks still playing, the water puddles still drying– she brilliantly brought to stage the mental landscape of heartbreak.’
(Shift(h)er, Temple Kemezis’s, Independent Dance Critic NYC, Arpil 2013)

We have been working together since 2011 and have collaborated on various productions. Graduating from Trinity Laban and The Boston Conservatory, our diverse backgrounds bring together a unique skill set including Irish dancing, choreological studies, theatre directing and contemporary dance techniques. We aim to create visually stunning work that communicates with our audiences. Our work has been presented in Bulgaria, Canada, Ireland, Sweden and USA.

We’ve previously received support from Culture Ireland to tour both works to Boston, NYC and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Night of the Big Wind is choreographed by Claffey and Christofi-Walshe, directed by Claffey and performed by Christofi-Walshe, Deirdre Griffin and Catherine Young. This work looks at Irish Proverbs passed down through generations. In January 1839 a hurricane hit Ireland and thatched roofs were destroyed by the wind. This became known as The Night of The Big Wind and is vivid in folk memory. Shift(h)er is choreographed and performed by Christofi-Walshe with sound design by Christofi-Walshe. Collaobrators are Ailish Claffey (choreology), Petra Hjortsberg (theatre design) and Jody O’Neill (dramaturgy). In the Irish dialect the word shift has a formal meaning to change or replace, and another meaning in Irish slang, to kiss. This bold work is a physical dialogue of love lost.

We are excited to bring our full productions to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival!

Why do we need your support?

We’re independent dance artists and have self-funded the creation of both these productions. With a lot of enthusiasm (plus a few all nighters) we’ve succeeded in producing two high caliber dance works. We now need your support to bring this double-bill to Philadelphia. We are completely self-funding this tour and need your contribution in order to help us cover the costs of flights, per diems and performance fees for the artists.