YES AND YES Comes to the Irish Arts Center Next Month

Irish Arts Center presents the New York premiere of Yes and Yes, a contemporary dance work from Ireland's acclaimed Liz Roche Company that evokes the Dublin-traversing episodes of Joyce's Ulysses through movement, film, sound, and design. Performances take place May 4-6 at Irish Arts Center's state-of-the-art new home.

Liz Roche is one of Ireland's foremost contemporary dance makers, with a career spanning three decades and 25 original choreographic works. The Irish Times has described her as a "cultural trailblazer." Yes and Yes represents the first time a full production of an evening-length work by her is presented in New York.

The Irish Times has hailed Yes and Yes for bringing Ulysses " to choreographed, three-dimensional life." The work takes its title from the final episode of Joyce's novel, which both begins and ends with a "yes": "...yes I said yes I will Yes," the famous last words of the book, exclaimed by Molly Bloom. The dance journeys through the chapters of Ulysses, exploring its sensuality, absurdity, release, and resignation in movement with four extraordinary dancers: Sarah Cerneaux, Grace Cuny, Toon Theunissen, and Mufutau Yusuf, whose own full-length New York choreographic debut, Òwe, was produced by Irish Arts Center in April 2022. The Arts Review describes Yes and Yes as "a wonderful, dreamlike experience," and writes, "Like Joyce did with words, Roche plays with the infinite choreographic possibilities of movement."

The Yes and Yes creative team includes Ray Harman (Composer), Katie Davenport (Set and Costume Designer), Davison Scandrett (Lighting Designer), José Miguel Jimenez (Videographer), and Wayne Jordan (Dramaturg).

On Friday, May 5, Irish Arts Center offers a post-show talkback with Liz Roche and Alison Armstrong, Joyce scholar, author of The Joyce of Cooking, and a longtime member of the James Joyce Society and W.B. Yeats Society of New York.

With Yes and Yes, Irish Arts Center continues to emerge as the New York home for thrilling dance artists and works reflective of modern Ireland and the Irish diaspora. Since opening its new building in December 2021, the organization has presented the U.S. premiere of Oona Doherty's Hard to Be Soft, the world premiere of Mufutau Yusuf's Òwe, and the commissioning and world premiere of Seán Curran and Darrah Carr's Céilí.