Rebellious Hope - seven dancers defy the rules of ageing

For this year's Dublin Theatre Festival, celebrated choreographer Phillip Connaughton brings seven internationally acclaimed performers aged from 46–86 years and musician Mel Mercier together for an electrifying new live work celebrating resilience, vulnerability and defiance - Phillip introduuces Rebellious Hope below.

Even as dancers, from a very early age we are conditioned to prepare ourselves for an early retirement. Whether we want to or not, it often seems like the right thing to do. Of course, we live in a youth-obsessed world, so when I turned 50 last year, it suddenly seemed important to ask myself: what next? I'd never done that before. It was the first time I’d ever questioned my career as a dancer. Looking to the future, I wasn’t sure if there was still space for this body of mine that had dedicated its whole life to dance.