Wit & Whimsy: Yin & Collapse
Uillinn Dance Season 2026

Wit & Whimsy: Yin & Collapse | Orla McCarthy

Thursday 5 November at 7:30pm | 70 mins | WARNING Contains references to mental health. The performance may include a laser machine.

Tickets available to purchase here.

Audience members will be invited to remove their shoes and participate in a floor-based performance. Participation is optional but movement is encouraged.

Wit & Whimsy: Yin & Collapse is a participatory dance-theatre performance disguised as a yin yoga class.

Welcome to Yin Yoga. Breathe out. You are gently encouraged to relax. Please ignore the slow collapse of everything around you.

Blending dance, theatre, live music and optional participation, the performance begins in calm guided stillness before spiralling into awkward humour, collective dance and emotional chaos. A gentle yoga class is a great place to process burnout, capitalism and the end of the world, right?

Come stretch, breathe and maybe let it out. We’re here for you. Kinda.

CREDITS
Choreography & Performance Orla Mc Carthy & Majon van der Schot.
Music composition Paul Edelbluth.

BIOGRAPHY

Freelance dance artist Orla Mc Carthy began her training at Shawbrook, Ireland, before earning a BA in Contemporary Dance from the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. Working across Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands, she has gained extensive performance experience with choreographers such as Meg Stuart, Connor Schumacher, Luke Murphy, and Catherine Young, and spent four years with Dance Theatre Heidelberg under Iván Pérez. She is currently touring After After by Arno Schuitemaker. Her own work is multidisciplinary, centered on the healing power of dance, creating immersive experiences where performers and audiences explore the physical and spiritual benefits of poetic movement. Highlights include presenting work at CINEDANS, Dock11 Berlin, and Theater Zwinger Heidelberg. Her latest stage work I am the machine, created with Nina Hynes, premiered at Dock11 in the ZEITGEIST IRLAND program, supported by Culture Ireland. Her work has received Arts Council Ireland and Creative Ireland funding, plus residencies at O Espaço do Tempo, Shawbrook, Backstage Theatre, and Uillinn. Beyond performing, Orla is passionate about teaching and guiding others in connecting with body and expression. A dedicated Qigong and Yin Yoga practitioner, she brings flow, presence, and energetic awareness into her movement practice. Her performance Wit & Whimsy premieres at this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival. 

Majon van der Schot, a versatile freelance performer and costume designer from the Netherlands, brings a rich background in dance theater from the Fontys Dance Academy. Collaborating with renowned choreographers like Damien Jalet, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and Connor Schumacher, she’s known for immersive projects such as ‘Funny, Soft, Happy and the Opposite’, ‘CLUBINC’, and ‘BLOOMING’. Notably, ‘BLOOMING’ was created in partnership with filmmaker Anna Bogomalova for the electronic music festival Waking Life in Portugal, offering audiences a physical experience mirroring the growth cycle of a tree and exploring sensory stimulation through costume changes. Beyond her creative pursuits, Majon remains dedicated to inclusivity, supporting neurodiverse bodies through her involvement with Theater group Babel in Rotterdam, where she continuously explores new realms of creativity and expression. Their show CLUBINC premiered in 2023 and toured till late in 2024. She is also one of the performers/collaborators in the new show R.A.V.E. (Raging, Against, Various, Elements) by ARK/Connor Schumacher that premiered early October 2024. She qualified as a Yin-Yoga teacher at Tula Studios in Amsterdam. Her performance Wit & Whimsy premieres at this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Funded by an Arts Council Multidisciplinary Bursary, supported through residency programme at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre and Dance Ireland.