Image credit: Niamh Donnelly, 2023
[image description: a young male dancer with short dark hair is stood in the centre of the image. He is wearing a pair of dark tracksuit bottoms and a white tee shirt. He is looking off to the left. His arms are raised slightly and his hands are splayed outwards, bending upwards slightly. Behind him there are two other dancers with only their arms are visible. Their arms are held outwards at various angles, giving the impression of a multi-armed goddess! The image is black and white.]
Francis is a dancer and performer with MeshDance. He also trains at Stage Door and Mind the Gap and works at local café 21 Co, a cafe & shop run for and by people with Down Syndrome to offer training and work experience with the aim of creating job opportunities.
On DITTO, Francis says: ‘recently, we have been working together to make brand new choreography. I like the soundscapes that Michelle has made, it’s really intense and it’s different to anything we have used before. The soundscapes are magical, robotic and electrifying.
We have been using one of the soundscapes to create a big group piece. My favourite part is the seaweed movement. The movement is quite smooth and wavy and we change the speed so sometimes the waves are fast and sometimes they are slow. We have also been involved in some photography, last week I had to repeat a movement lots of times and Niamh took 24 photos. I’m excited to see what will happen with the images!
I absolutely love performing, it’s my passion and I can’t wait to share our work with audiences in March!
Photo credit: Brian Slater, 2017
[image description: A photo of the Me2 Inclusive Youth Dance Company performing their piece Who Are You, Who Am I, Who Are We? At Fresh 2017. Five of the dancers are sat on the floor, and one is sat in their wheelchair. Francis is stood up in front of the other dancers with his arms above his head, he is caught in motion with one foot slightly raised off the floor.]