Meet the Residency Recipients of 2026

Earlier this year, we held a call-out for three residency opportunities at Circus Factory: one local, one national, and one international.

The demand was so high, and we were so blown away by the level of the applications. We wanted to support so many projects. And if we could have, we would. As well as the three residency recipients, we are delighted to support the work of two further applicants with use of the space.

Paid Residency Recipients:
Local: Linda Cullen
National: JANAS
International: Sonja Schebek

Unpaid Residency Recipients:
Local: Elaine Clague
National: Gracie May

A special thank you to Cian Kinsella, Poppy Emer Greenford and Jude O’ Neill for being on the selection panel; reading through 65+ residency applications, scoring them and ultimately making tough decisions on behalf of Circus Factory.

What do the residency recipients of 2026 hope to develop during the residency time?

Linda Cullen – To bring ‘Womb Bones’ to a fully realised work

This residency would be an invaluable opportunity for Womb Bones.

Linda and Etaoin are deeply committed to this project. As artists, we are eager to find a space and context in which the many strands of research and development can be sewn together into a fully realised work. This residency would offer the time, support, and environment needed to consolidate these developments and shape the final piece. Etaoin and Linda would work with director Deidre Dywer on finalising the below developments for this piece

The performance is research-based, an exploration of personal narratives that portrays various rites of passage:

1. The aerial cocoon symbolising the birth space.
2.  The next phase is portraying the teenage phase.
3. The final stage of the rites of passage is the death phase which is split into two parts.

Melville will create hand-drawn animations for this piece, with images depicting the fragility of life with an ephemeral quality inspired by the text.

Parts of the show will have a ceremonial feel. Cullen will arrange large-scale flower props on stage and sit among them, while Melville’s hand-drawn animation projects around her, creating a quiet, immersive space for deeper audience impact.

Linda and Etaoin will be showing Womb Bones on Culture Night at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen. Tickets are free but you need to register.

JANAS – To develop their show and the physical language of “friction, frustration, unity and defiance”.

JANAS (Julie O’Connell Kent, Chloe Commins and Eric Munday) would love to develop their show further with a view to staging the show in Dún Laoghaire in June and different festivals around Ireland and (hopefully!) the world.  In this show, the characters follow their pursuit to maintain what is their own land, fighting an invisible presence (the colonialist power) who seeks to exert control. Unbeknownst to the characters, this influence makes them turn on each other, until everything is utterly exhausted. In the end, they must find their way back to harmony and unity.

The core of their piece lies in the characters’ pursuit of cultural maintenance against a colonial power, where external influence causes them to turn on each other before finding a way back to unity.

The residency time will be critical for further developing the core conflict: solidifying the physical language of “friction, frustration, unity and defiance” in their partner acrobalance and aerial sections. Specifically, they will be deepening the choreography for the moments where the characters turn on each other and the final, exhausted resolution back to harmony. They will also use the time to focus on musical integration, and will work with their blended Irish/Sardinian folk and modern electronic score to map the dramatic tension to the final piece.

We will have time to integrate the DLR-funded mentorship that Sasha Krohn is kindly offering us early in the year, and use his input to create our own movement. We will bring elements of dance and acrobalance to bring our solo elements together and as a tool to convey friction, frustration, unity and defiance. We use a blend of Irish and Sardinian folk music along with modern beats.

JANAS will be back at Circus Factory on October 10th – 11th with their Crosspollination Aerial Intensive, giving you a glimpse into some of the skills that will be in the show, and a chance to learn them for yourself.

Sonja Schebek – Develop and research their current show, which involves violin

Sonja Schebek wants to refine, develop and lengthen the existing work LIMBO Sonata, readying it ahead of further touring. Her second objective is to begin research for a new piece that could be shown as a complementary work to LIMBO, as a double bill. This work will allow us to greatly expand our movement possibilities and create more dynamic skills, lifts and throws.

This includes time spent on movement training together, deepening synchronisation skills, partner work, conducting research into a range of movement methods and practices and taking time to experiment. Another area of research is to experiment further with ways the violin and bow can be integrated into the movement, as well as an exploration of the points of failure.

The initial days would have a strong focus on training and synchronisation, then the middle periods for movement sequencing and creating new movement language, phrases and transitional elements that will permeate the work. We would use the final days to create documentation material.

Elaine Mc Cague –  To develop rope-based movement practice and hair-based discipline, Knothead

Elaine would use this residency as focused research time to develop her rope-based movement practice and her hair-based discipline, Knothead.

A core focus of the residency will be exploring the intersection between aerial rope technique, counterweight systems, and Knothead. This includes experimenting with dynamic rope pathways, lateral tension, ground-to-air transitions, and counterbalanced objects, as well as understanding how hair functions as a sensory and structural anchor within these systems.

The residency will also be used to investigate how these movement practices sit within a wider performance language. Elaine’s plan to work with simple materials or objects to test how they alter physical behaviour and perception, bending their familiar use and allowing abstract or non-linear associations to emerge.

Elaine will also use the residency to document the work through video, writing, and sketches, allowing questions and patterns to surface naturally. This reflective process helps clarify what material has potential and what needs further testing.

The material from this residency will be part of a greater work at various festivals later in the year. She hopes to tour the work nationally in 2027. Rather than aiming for a finished outcome, this residency supports the careful building of foundations, allowing the work to emerge through experimentation, reflection, and sustained physical inquiry.

Gracie May – Creating a new act by combining props with one as the 3rd person

Gracie would like to create a duo fusing contact dance, partner acrobatics & hula hoops with Emily Lannigan from Revel Puck Circus. The act would create a smooth and poetic piece about lifting and pushing each other through the hula hoop. She would like to explore all possibilities of what’s possible and explore themes of female friendship, support and how they are stronger as a unit.

Gracie and Emily would receive mentorship from Natasha & Sabine from People Watching Collective in movement and partnering, to upskill, learn different research method & learn how to move with someone else like water and fluidity, with some beautiful circus touches.

Then Gracie and Emily will take what they’ve learnt as a base and then fuse Emily’s acro skills with Gracie’s hula hooping to create an abundance of new tricks and sequences. They will try partner exercises to see if the hoop can become the third person, to combine these disciplines to create new techniques, tricks and sequences. Then they will start to create an act by using their favourite research they’ve found.