The Kindness of Strangers

Lisa McLoughlin

I place myself at the mercy of the kindness of strangers and seek to find balance on the spreadsheet of my life.

An exciting collaboration between dancer & performer Lisa McLoughlin and mathematician Professor John McLoughlin, creating an equation of care and dependency exploring our interdependence as a species. This work is the culmination of four site specific durational performances across Limerick, Galway, Belfast and Cork before the final culmination event to create an immersive shared experience at Live Collision.

The Kindness of Strangers looks to explore the mathematical equation of dependency in collaboration with Maths Professor John McLoughlin. As an artist, a mother, a carer, spouse, daughter and member of a rural community, I carry the weight of my three children, aging parents and depend heavily on those around me to help me carry my responsibilities. This is the lived equation of dependency and care. This equation is usually gendered and heavily relies on women to carry this burden. I bring this equation back into my body, the body that does this work and ask for the help I need to carry this weight and place myself at the mercy of “the kindness of strangers”.

Workshop:
This work will also have a companion workshop that will be hosted in each of the cities I will perform in including: Queen’s University, The Galway Dance Project, The Frikin Crane and the Limerick Arts and Health Research Cluster and Live Collision International Festival 2019.

These very human interactions aim to speak to the vulnerable in us all, how we all need to ask for help and in the immortal words of Blanche DeBois “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers” (A streetcar named desire).

Biography:
Lisa McLoughlin has been a professional dancer for twenty years, toured extensively nationally and internationally and has worked many of the major Irish contemporary dance companies. Graduated from the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary dance in London, holds a first-class honours MA in Dance and in the third year of the arts practice PhD from the University of Limerick. Recipient of awards for choreography, performer and researcher of dance and the body and co-created the BA in Contemporary dance at UL. Recipient of multiple arts council awards, most recently, the designer of “The Autonomy Project, 2018” in collaboration with the Limerick Arts office, under the Invitation to collaboration award. Her work focuses on the body in society and the relationship between society and the individual.

Credits:
Creator and Performer: Lisa McLoughlin
Mathematician and Collaborator: Professor John McLoughlin
Collaborator: Dr. Neil Kenny
Filmmaker: Jason Byrne
Sound and Lighting Designer: Adam Gibney
Producer: Lynnette Moran
Mentor: Amanda Coogan

Co-commissioned by Live Collision

Funded by Arts Council Ireland and Limerick City Council with support of The Galway Dance Project;, Galway; The Firkin Crane, Cork; Limerick Arts and Health Research Cluster, Limerick; Queens University, Belfast