NŌS

NŌS brings three distinctive choreographic voices together in a contemporary dance programme by Luail, Ireland’s National Dance Company. At Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on 8 and 9 January 2027, the evening moves between myth, social reality, colour and rhythm through works by Akram Khan, Oona Doherty and Liz Roche.

Akram Khan’s Kaash, first performed in 2002, draws on the rhythmic force of his classical training to explore creation and destruction, black holes and mythological gods. Anish Kapoor’s set and Nitin Sawhney’s score give the work its shifting, otherworldly atmosphere.

Oona Doherty’s Lazarus (2016) turns to raw human experience. Reimagined for the Luail ensemble, it examines masculinity, social and economic stereotypes, rebirth, and the search for hope beneath the roles people are expected to play.

The programme closes with two works from Liz Roche’s 12 Minute Dances (2009), set to music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe and Ed Rosenberg III. Inspired by Mark Rothko’s belief that art “lives by companionship”, these short pieces use colour, rhythm and movement to invite the audience into the work.

Set designer Alyson Cummins, lighting designer Sinead Wallace and costume designer Catherine Fay help unite the three works as one production. Rather than telling one continuous story, NŌS offers three contrasting approaches to contemporary dance, linked by questions of change, connection and what it means to be human.

AGE GUIDANCE: Under 16’s must be accompanied by a parent/guardian aged 18+. No under 3’s permitted in the auditorium.