https://declanwhitaker.com Declan Whitaker Tue, 08 Jul 2025 13:31:15 +0000 https://declanwhitaker.com en https://declanwhitaker.com/away-with-the-faeries Tue, 08 Jul 2025 13:31:15 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/away-with-the-faeries Away with the Faeries In Irish folklore, the Fairies are mischevious, dubious almost-human beings said to live on the threshold to the otherworld. To cross a fairy could bring you good luck or terrible misfortune... Through the figure of the Fairy - both the beings from Irish folklore and indeed a slur used against queer people -&nbsp;Away with the Faeries reimagines Declan’s personal history with Irish dance. Unfolding as a series of uncanny vignettes, the work conjures an ethereal terrain full of mischief and magic. At once an homage to and a rebellion against a traditional dance form, Away with the Faeries rethinks what Irish dance might be, with a wink in its eye and a spring in its step. The work is performed by Declan himself, Mickey Mahar, and Astrid Sweeney, who were all competitive Irish dancers in their childhoods. Credits: Declan Whitaker - Choreography, Artistic Direction, Performance Astrid Sweeney - Performance Mickey Mahar - Performance Jenny Nordberg - Costume and Stage&nbsp; Ultan O’Brien - Music/Sound Design&nbsp; Eulalie Déguénon &amp; Linus Jacobson - Light Design Lucia Gugerli - Artistic Assistance&nbsp; Susi Tenner - Hair Consultation Naima Ghoul - Costume Adjustments Paula Alonso Gómez - Production Management Angela Demattè - Production Assistance Residency: Milvus Artistic Research Center Supported by: Fachausschuss Darstellende Künste BS/BL, Embassy of Ireland; Switzerland, Landis + Gyr Stiftung, Atelier Mondial, Fonds Respect, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Stiftung Edith Maryon, Stiftung Anne Marie Schindler Co-Production: Kaserne Basel Photos: Guillaume Musset <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f67e2a9981fd6a8a61f209a35067fdde2563e4de595b7462e40e048be082cc6d/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-001.jpg" data-mid="249045611" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f67e2a9981fd6a8a61f209a35067fdde2563e4de595b7462e40e048be082cc6d/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-001.jpg" /><img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/86042a2a1d82e77c31faa4eda20e0d3b75899025746e9f768fcdee8151bbce2e/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-011.jpg" data-mid="249047513" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/86042a2a1d82e77c31faa4eda20e0d3b75899025746e9f768fcdee8151bbce2e/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-011.jpg" /><img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/db3038a5ec1ccf8d29b47df6457662a2f31864f47caf03c08074358f0e191d67/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-007.jpg" data-mid="249047506" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/db3038a5ec1ccf8d29b47df6457662a2f31864f47caf03c08074358f0e191d67/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-007.jpg" /><img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d40139b9dfddfbe8ed3690c6fb237d3653cc3a3d4870dbd9f271d7d9359ab4c9/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-004.jpg" data-mid="249047512" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d40139b9dfddfbe8ed3690c6fb237d3653cc3a3d4870dbd9f271d7d9359ab4c9/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-004.jpg" /><img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/aa7f4befdc792d4ae2b9d1d6a3e014a9c0de385ac5bb5b41fd942adb6ff72670/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-016.jpg" data-mid="249047507" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/aa7f4befdc792d4ae2b9d1d6a3e014a9c0de385ac5bb5b41fd942adb6ff72670/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-016.jpg" /> https://declanwhitaker.com/body-matters Fri, 25 Oct 2024 09:16:11 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/body-matters body matters Body Matters is a series of public sharings which focuses on experiments in dance and choreography. In a low key setting, the outcome of different artistic exchanges between myself and invited dance makers are shared. These outcomes could be a short étude, a performative experiment, a movement score - or something else entirely. Afterwards a feedback round gives space for insights and reflections from the audience. Through Body Matters, I offer my time and creative self to different dance artists from the Basel scene who might want to try out their ideas in the dance studio. Body Matters opens a space for collegial exchange and the potential for new collaborations. It takes place in the frame of my residency at Kaserne Basel as a LAB artist. https://kaserne-basel.ch/en/events/Body-Matters-2Body Matters #3 with Simea Cavelti: 23rd April, 18.30 @KHaus Probebühne Body Matters #2 with Yeonji Han: 22nd January, 18.30 @KHaus Probebühne Body Matters #1 with Zina Vaessen: 12th November, 18.30 @KHaus Probebühne https://declanwhitaker.com/good-things-come Wed, 24 Jan 2024 13:05:43 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/good-things-come good things come In the limbo of a rehearsal we meet "The Dancer". "The Dancer" has many ideas, many things it would like to express. It tests some of them out – sometimes with success - at other times overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities. Wishing to emerge from a quagmire of good intentions, "The Dancer" tries to gather the force to be decisive and consequent, but it seems there are other things to be done on the road to nowhere...&nbsp; Good Things Come speaks to a feeling of inertia that might feel familiar to us all. Occasionally lucid, yet mostly mushy, the workexpresses what it can: a collage of indecipherable scenarios that dissolve as quickly as they appear. <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a604a31bd18df35bb4a70aa9eb1e86799b7c29d79bbdd1dc79f9fecd564d5f6b/goodthingscome-11.jpg" data-mid="202687378" border="0" data-scale="99" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a604a31bd18df35bb4a70aa9eb1e86799b7c29d79bbdd1dc79f9fecd564d5f6b/goodthingscome-11.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cecb6928df6380ecec82054ed89ffe2de4e3ec60f23dd9ad28472e3c7f6f2c2d/goodthingscome-03.jpg" data-mid="202687382" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cecb6928df6380ecec82054ed89ffe2de4e3ec60f23dd9ad28472e3c7f6f2c2d/goodthingscome-03.jpg" /> Documentation:&nbsp;email me for the link :) Concept, choreography and performance: Declan WhitakerStage + Light design: Klara MandCostumes: Yann SlatterySound design: Oliver LeithLight technology: Jan VahlConceptual development: Elliot ReedOutside eye: Riccardo TaroccoDramaturgical advisor Tanzhaus Zürich: Lea MoroProduction management: Catalina SchriberPhotos: Michelle Ettlin Coproduction: Theater ROXY, Tanzhaus ZürichResidency partner: Dampfzentrale Bern Supported by Ernst Göhner Foundation, Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung SIS, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, Landis &amp; Gyr Foundation, Elisabeth Weber Foundation, Corymbo Foundation, Jaqueline Spengler Stiftung https://declanwhitaker.com/to-those-who-wait Mon, 15 Oct 2018 13:09:47 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/to-those-who-wait to those who wait we have developed an appetite for immediacy and overstimulation. duration is dead. in a world of increased technological dependence and decreased attention span, what is still worth our time? <img width="5039" height="3353" width_o="5039" height_o="3353" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e6a1f15ca744d8e83b2dd7067ee302cc4939748a6e13ae4d292c1d10e8bbdce4/FLB_20200814_41.jpg" data-mid="85656928" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e6a1f15ca744d8e83b2dd7067ee302cc4939748a6e13ae4d292c1d10e8bbdce4/FLB_20200814_41.jpg" /><img width="4272" height="2856" width_o="4272" height_o="2856" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/07efc7e0536a1dffd0691319d9642e6be7769e8b10952a0cec831f08a008c543/P1160070.jpg" data-mid="39808454" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/07efc7e0536a1dffd0691319d9642e6be7769e8b10952a0cec831f08a008c543/P1160070.jpg" /> To Those Who Wait premiered at The Place, London on February 13th 2019. In 2020, the piece toured Switzerland in the frame of TanzPlan Ost. Rehearsals were made possible through the generous support of DanceXchange, the FreeSpace programme at Studio Wayne McGregor, Forsøgsstationen and Kinetic Pilates cast: simea cavelti, lucia gugerli, celina liesegang, riccardo tarocco.&nbsp; photo: flurin bertschinger and henry curtis<img width="3742" height="1183" width_o="3742" height_o="1183" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/32df746f223e81f2aeed0ac0ff29dc470603401b22bd4cf309ca550e96437657/grant_jpeg_black.jpg" data-mid="39809190" border="0" data-scale="56" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/32df746f223e81f2aeed0ac0ff29dc470603401b22bd4cf309ca550e96437657/grant_jpeg_black.jpg" /><img width="512" height="512" width_o="512" height_o="512" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fea7127982a6556bd6ecc96be7a8ef3e37baeb37ce8e90644b8f61b49ede33cd/Ns1pQd7q.jpg" data-mid="39809191" border="0" data-scale="22" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/512/i/fea7127982a6556bd6ecc96be7a8ef3e37baeb37ce8e90644b8f61b49ede33cd/Ns1pQd7q.jpg" /> https://declanwhitaker.com/lovemetender Tue, 27 Mar 2018 10:09:40 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/lovemetender lovemetender series when the singularity comes, will we miss our bodies? will our bodies miss us? &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; https://declanwhitaker.com/for-the-time-being Fri, 23 Mar 2018 11:51:01 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/for-the-time-being for the time being (research project) using pop music, movement, video projection and fake plants as a pallete, for the time being aims to test the audiences’ patience and appetite for overstimulation in a world where technology rules. two physical dancers and one digital dancer perform a one hour durational performance that constantly oscillates between reality and surrealism, speed and slowness and satisfaction and suspense.the work aims to question whether one scond can be as valuable as one hour: with: simea cavelti, celina liesegang, riccardo tarocco. various formats: 1 hour duarational performance (loop) or 30 minutes performance. The research was made through the Choreography Award at DanceXchange, Birmingham and the FreeSpace programme at Studio Wayne McGregor. <img width="3742" height="1183" width_o="3742" height_o="1183" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0125ff43c4805684432c0a93120b0af973d640c7b8c1f07b801d08888879daff/grant_jpeg_black.jpg" data-mid="13788331" border="0" data-scale="64" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0125ff43c4805684432c0a93120b0af973d640c7b8c1f07b801d08888879daff/grant_jpeg_black.jpg" /> https://declanwhitaker.com/home Fri, 23 Mar 2018 09:29:11 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/home &nbsp;work&nbsp; &nbsp; about&nbsp; &nbsp; upcoming&nbsp; &nbsp; the field &nbsp; &nbsp; declan whitaker <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8498c7f01883044fbf1bf9d33836b121a33f12aee1894904bc526d6ae677955f/Declan-01-web.jpg" data-mid="246427088" border="0" data-scale="62" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8498c7f01883044fbf1bf9d33836b121a33f12aee1894904bc526d6ae677955f/Declan-01-web.jpg" /> ©guillaume musset https://declanwhitaker.com/work Fri, 23 Mar 2018 10:22:04 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/work workaway&nbsp;with the faeries <img width="1920" height="1280" width_o="1920" height_o="1280" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f67e2a9981fd6a8a61f209a35067fdde2563e4de595b7462e40e048be082cc6d/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-001.jpg" data-mid="249047516" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f67e2a9981fd6a8a61f209a35067fdde2563e4de595b7462e40e048be082cc6d/Away-with-the-fairies-HP-01-001.jpg" /> body matters<img width="3722" height="2658" width_o="3722" height_o="2658" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/943641f58e7aa8ebb233cf37438ad91db68266b693b539840b8743caf4e02577/Body_Matters_recktangle.jpg" data-mid="220293715" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/943641f58e7aa8ebb233cf37438ad91db68266b693b539840b8743caf4e02577/Body_Matters_recktangle.jpg" />good things come <img width="5000" height="3335" width_o="5000" height_o="3335" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/45a22f9cbc6e0f35b6336e9f30b0594c7f93f545810383e5e7783f51a49f7a1f/declan-GT-2023-Roxy-BintaKopp-7U4A5314.JPG" data-mid="203700627" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/45a22f9cbc6e0f35b6336e9f30b0594c7f93f545810383e5e7783f51a49f7a1f/declan-GT-2023-Roxy-BintaKopp-7U4A5314.JPG" /> to those who wait <img width="4272" height="2856" width_o="4272" height_o="2856" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/03c620599504ff785109471f9ecbdf71d4d65d9bd23e7806106d0f433bc83b58/P1150738.jpg" data-mid="39808774" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/03c620599504ff785109471f9ecbdf71d4d65d9bd23e7806106d0f433bc83b58/P1150738.jpg" /> for the time being <img width="3968" height="2976" width_o="3968" height_o="2976" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6df0bef306021446e397d42651575bbfc95ac9b0004dd3d0ba3902900603a004/IMG_20180205_135956.jpg" data-mid="13477790" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6df0bef306021446e397d42651575bbfc95ac9b0004dd3d0ba3902900603a004/IMG_20180205_135956.jpg" /> LOVEMETENDER series<img width="1265" height="712" width_o="1265" height_o="712" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a5e05888b52436f5f4ba2f2360d7c178f3757114ec15ad3ea6818a34ce74a2f9/60SECONDDANCESS3.png" data-mid="13477812" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a5e05888b52436f5f4ba2f2360d7c178f3757114ec15ad3ea6818a34ce74a2f9/60SECONDDANCESS3.png" /> https://declanwhitaker.com/about Fri, 23 Mar 2018 09:40:55 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/about about declan is a dancer and choreographer based in basel, switzerland and is currently a resident LAB artist at kaserne basel. within this frame, he initiated the format body matters - a site for experiments in dance and choreography. in 2019 declan received the danceweb scholarship at impulstanz and in 2023 was part of springback academy in the frame of aerowaves. he received the atelier mondial travel grant 2025 and will travel to ireland to research for his upcoming work.declan’s artistic interest often lies with aesthetic conventions, implicit forms of expression and the border between fantasy and reality.&nbsp;his choreographic work has been shown at theater roxy, tanzhaus zürich, tanzplan ost (ch), pact zollverein (de), kunsthal charlottenborg (dk), the place (uk).declan is a part of the field, the associated collective at tanzhaus zürich where he has worked with ofelia jarl ortega, meg stuart, isabel lewis and simone aughterlony. declan regularly collaborates with the choreographer frédéric gies/dance is ancient and has also performed in works by martina-sofie wildberger and martin forsberg amongst others. he holds a master of arts from london contemporary dance school and has completed other artistic education courses at skh/uniarts, stockholm. email: declanwhitaker@gmail.com/declan@thefield.ch https://declanwhitaker.com/upcoming Thu, 29 Mar 2018 10:44:58 +0000 Declan Whitaker https://declanwhitaker.com/upcoming current + upcoming Spring 2026 🌙️ Premiere 🌙️: Away with the Faeries 27th May 2026, Kaserne Baselhttps://kaserne-basel.ch/en/events/away-faeries Summer 2026 Calling, Ofelia Jarl Ortega/The Field Ravnedans, Norwayhttps://www.ravnedans.com/ ATLAS, ImPulsTanz, Vienna https://www.impulstanz.com/en/atlas/ Autumn 2026 Dans, Sverige - Frédéric Gies/Dance is Ancient Stockholm, Malmö