Tanya Turner
Development Residency

Croí Glan – Tanya Turner: development of new solo
24 to 28 March 2025

Croí Glan’s associate artist Tanya Turner will be returning to Uillinn to do a second EDI residency to develop a new solo work based around an aerial hoop. Tanya began research for this work at her last EDI residency in 2023 and is delighted to be returning to develop it further.

‘I’m so delighted to be returning to the research I did in 2023, to be able to use it to develop a new solo biographical work.’

Led by Artistic Director Tara Brandel, Croí Glan is an award winning Contemporary Dance Company celebrating diverse bodies on stage, and a flagship company for EDI with a case study in the new AC EDI handbook.
Creating 22 works since 2006, Croí Glan has toured nationally and internationally: highlights of the company’s body of work include Liz Roche’s An Outside Understanding (Dublin Dance Festival 2013, nominated Best Performers Dublin Fringe), the multi award winning short film Armour Off! (in collaboration with Invisible Thread, Caroline Bowditch and Linda Fearon), Tara Brandel’s Sputnik for the Unlimited Festival/Cultural Olympiad London Southbank 2012, and David Bolger’s On the Wall (performed in 25 locations including Miami, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Barcelona, Bern, and Turku). Croí Glan’s most recent productions include TILT, an integrated aerial dance show (Cork Midsummer, Tipperary Dance Festival and Dancer from the Dance Festival); In Place a site specific performance made for IMMA; Unseen a multidisciplinary duet looking at plankton and enduring love (Uillinn Dance Season, Firkin Crane, Mermaid Arts Centre).
CG is EDI Company in Residence at Uillinn Arts Centre 2022-25.

Tanya Turner grew up in the beautiful Wexford countryside, and knew from an early age she had a passion for music and dancing. She practised Irish dancing from the age of 8 – 11 and then played violin in the Wexford Sinfonia orchestra from age 12 – 17. She discovered ballroom dancing in college and later Salsa dancing. Nothing made her feel freer, except for African drumming, which she took up after finding a tumour in her left leg – something that curtailed her enjoyment of dancing for quite a while. This tumour eventually led to cancer, which led to the amputation of her whole left leg, back in 2017. But not long after this, she met Tara Brandel, whose enthusiasm and encouragement about her dancing in her new body led to her dancing with the Croí Glan company.

Supported by AC Arts Grant Fund 2025. Many thanks to Uillinn for their generous EDI residency support for Tanya’s work.

Tanya Turner
Finding Myself Through Movement
3 to 7 July and 1 to 5 August 2023

I will be using my time in this creative space to discover myself and the language of my body, as an artist and a dancer with a disability. I will be working both on my own, and also with Tara Brandel as my mentor and dance colleague. We will be dancing, experimenting with different kinds of interactive movements, focusing on the ‘feeling, animal body’ and acknowledging our primal connection to each other, the environment and how different types of bodies can interplay, balance and support one another. We will also be working on aerial, experimenting with hoops and pole, possibly even silks, as I have used these before but would love to develop them more. I will also be experimenting with this same aerial apparatus on my own. I am excited to try all of the above, but am also nervous about a) My stamina and ability to pace myself enough not to ‘burn out’ or to injure myself, b) To not ‘waste’ my time there but make the best of this opportunity! and c) My ability to organise and budget everything wisely, in order to get the help and assistance I need as a person with a disability.

I will be keeping a personal account/blog of my experience, but would also like to engage in a podcast and/or informal interviews with myself, Tara Brandel and others involved in my artist’s residency, sharing that with the public during or after the experience.

As a leg amputee since October 2017, I am still learning how to celebrate being in my body. Joining Croi Glan in 2020 really helped me regain confidence in myself as a dancer with a disability. We performed as a group three times in 2021 at the Port of Cork Midsummer Festival, and Skibbereen arts festival. Other projects I’ve collaborated on include ‘Phoenix Wings’, a short dance film celebrating felt wings made by disabled artist, Nikki Collier. I have been studying aerial with Hannah Gumbrielle since 2021 at Taking Flight Studio in Dublin, and have also taken online lessons with Erin Ball, a double amputee circus artist, as part of receiving the Agility Award in 2022.

YouTube @tanyaturner4465

Image above from a performance of Tilt by Croí Glan Integrated Dance Company in Skibbereen, August 2021

WCAC acknowledges the financial support of the Arts Council and Cork County Council in making these residencies possible.