Biography
Mary Wycherley is the Course Director of the Masters in Contemporary Dance Performance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
Mary is a contemporary dance artist whose work embraces live performance, choreography and film. She was appointed as Limerick Dance Artist in Residence from 20152017 by the Arts Council of Ireland and she is a curator and co-founder of Light Moves Festival of Screendance. Collaborative processes underpin her research and practice with a longstanding interest in innovative modes of presentation for dance and movement. Contemporary release based and somatic approaches to technique and movement are the foundations of her performance and choreographic practice.
In 2016 she premiered a new film work, Wrongheaded, at Project Arts Centre Dublin, made in collaboration with Liz Roche Company and poet Elaine Feeney. Throughout 2015 she toured In The Bell's Shadow both nationally and internationally. This feature length screendance film was made in collaboration with choreographer Joan Davis and scored for the Irish Chamber Orchestra by Jürgen Simpson. Her installation work includes the diptych Starting With T (2014) and the triptych The Dance Of Making (2012). Starting With T is a community project made in collaboration with Mary Nunan and Monica Spencer, funded by Limerick City of Culture 2014 and co-produced by Limerick City Gallery of Art. The Dance of Making was funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and was extensively exhibited in gallery contexts nationally. In 2013 Mary premiered Frames & Fragments and Contour, two Dance Ireland commissions. Her work has been shown at festivals and galleries including the National Museum of Contemporary Arts Bucharest, The American Dance Festival, The Solas Nua Arts Centre Washington, VideoDanza Festival Buenos Aires, The Kilkenny Arts Festival, West Cork Art Centre, RUA RED Gallery, Fab Lab (LCGA off-site), Fastnet Film Festival, the Firkin Crane, Light House Cinema Dublin and the Galway Film Fleadh.
From 2012 to 2014 Mary was one of the invited artists participating in European dance initiatives, including Modul-Dance Carte Blanche programme by the Network of European Dance Houses and as associate artist with E-Motional Bodies & Cities programme. Mary is a former dancer with Cork City Ballet Company, holds a Bachelor of Arts from University College Cork and an MA in Contemporary Dance Performance from the University of Limerick. She has acted as a board member for both Dance Limerick and Dance Research Forum Ireland.