Leitrim contemporary dancer performing at Dublin Fringe Festival 2023

Leitrim Artist Diarmuid Mayock Armstrong is one of the talents performing at Dublin Fringe Festival 2023, with his dance-theatre piece with absurd flashes of humour and dark comedy, ‘Texture Like Sun’.

Alongside his mother, brother and two dancers, the artist is now in the final stages of rehearsals after six weeks of the creative process at his home, where he turned into an art-performing studio.

Diarmuid told the Leitrim Observer that the ‘Texture Like Sun’ dance-theatre piece “explores cycles of addiction, trauma and drug use following three characters spiral through their cycles of dependency”.

“It is something personal to me. I think it is a prevalent issue in Ireland, especially in Dublin - we are constantly seeing it on the streets. When I was growing up, I saw a lot of friends and some family members with different addictions and dependency issues”, the contemporary dancer added.

‘Texture Like Sun’ dance-theatre piece “explores how substances are commonly used as coping mechanisms to escape both psychological and physical pain expressed in a contemporary dance and movement, which is like a bleak observation of the psychological process of addiction”, Diarmund explained.

His journey as a dancer started when the artist questioned himself about what to do in College, then decided to experiment and fell in love with it.

Diarmuid went to a four-year full-time programme at Fontys Dance Academy in the Netherlands focused on developing young dance artists to create their performance work and their signature through contemporary dance practice and techniques.

‘Texture Like Sun’ is produced by Hannah Dobson, a freelance creative project, theatre maker and visual artist living in the West of Ireland. She has been working with Cairde Visual Arts Festival as project coordinator for the Visual Arts Trail and, most recently, stage manager for Cairde in the Park.

Alongside Hannah and Diarmund are Dee Armstrong (Kila), Lughaigh Mayock Armstrong (Sky Atlas), Matt Burke (Flora Fauna Project), and some international performers involved in the production.

“It’s been absolutely fantastic working with them. The dancers are really open to any of my ideas and to have some contrast I share it with my family, and sometimes they give me a confused face that sounds like a ridiculous idea. That’s why it is nice to have the contrast because it doesn’t keep you too comfy in your artist escapes”, the Leitrim artist said.

‘Texture Like Sun’ debut performance is taking place on September 12-13-14 at the Dublin Fringe Festival, a curated, multidisciplinary arts festival that seeks to present contemporary, playful and provocative new work made by Irish and international artists.

“I was delighted to be accepted at Dublin Fringe Festival. When I contacted them, we set up a meeting to discuss the possibilities. I presented my piece, and they were well for it. So, it’s been great.

“We would like the show didn’t just die after Dublin Fringe, and we can bring it to other places. So, we are going to be working on that. There are a few other projects down the line that I have been working on with various choreographers, but those are not solid yet”, Diarmuid added.