The Jump Start Consortium is Earagail Arts Festival, Cairde Sligo Arts Festival, Fidget Feet’s Irish Aerial Dance Festival and the ISACS Networ

This partnership is interested in supporting emerging circus artists with a speciality/interest in aerial technique and creativity. Together we are developing a residency and creative mentorship programme, which supports and encourages emerging aerial artists to take the first step forward in artistic creation. The selected artists are mentored by mid-career circus artists, therefore encouraging the growth of a supportive eco-system between and among their artistic peers.

MAKOSH by Polina Shapkina

2021-22 Jump Start Artist

Inspired by the works of Carl Jung on the human psyche, journey through a world of symbols on a quest to be the fullest expression of ourselves if we have the courage to take it. A surreal dreamscape, an age old quest for meaning and belonging in a world of disillusion.

A tentative battle plays out between the protagonist PSYCHE who is faced with the challenge of incorporating the deepest parts of herself – this hidden and dark unconscious represented by a second dancer: SHADOW. ORDER is embodied by the third performer.

While rich in Slavic folk motifs that connect to the artists ancestral heritage, and post-soviet dystopianism, the work also presents the world order we are currently living in – one that calls for conformity and imposes oppressive structures on ordinary lives.

One Hundred Thousand Years by Ashton

2023-24 Jump Start Artist

A joyful exploration of time and nature, using vertical dance, theatre and multi-sensory installation. Inspired by the natural environments of the West Coast of Ireland.

Ashton is the recipient of the 2023-2024 Jump Start programme. In the first year their focus was movement research on-site, and they are now presenting a performance-in-development sharing. 

Jump Start is supported by Earagail Arts Festival, Cairde Sligo Arts Festival, Irish Street Arts, Circus and Spectacle Network (ISACS) and Irish Aerial Dance Festival. Supported by Arts Council Ireland.