CRAWLER

Fresh off the back of a sold-out run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024 & Irish premiere at Dublin Fringe Festival, Crawler comes to Mermaid Arts Centre.
This raw, physical duet from Jessie Thompson and Jason McNamara fuses dance, live drums, and electronic sound.  Together, they navigate shifting power dynamics and unearth raw connection, anchoring their world in a shared experience. Transcending from the guttural to the godlike, they devour space with adrenaline, mind-bending sound, and extreme physicality.

Born through many iterations of choreographic and improvisational collaborations this performance invites you to witness the foundations of their form, the magic within the unknown.  Jessie draws from her experience as a female artist within Ireland’s male-dominated street dance scene, how music and movement can transform a single moment, and how collaboration can birth celebration and unity.   With a language rooted in hip hop & contemporary dance, and Jason’s raw street performance practice, Crawler invites you to witness the essence/foundations of their form.

Jessie Thompson

Jessie Thompson is a Dublin based Dancer and Choreographer with a practice rooted in contemporary and Hip-Hop styles. She is a Project Artist & Dance Artist in Residence in PAC and Dublin City Council , supported by Arts Council Ireland. Jessie’s work explores the intersection of dance styles, music and live performance, influenced by her versatile background. In 2024 Jessie toured her solo show CRAWLER to Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was awarded the Romilly Walton Masters performance award from Dublin Fringe and Centre Cultural Irlandias Paris, France, her work has also been presented in Dublin Dance Festival, Culture Night, What Next Festival Limerick and more. Jessie is the founder of street dance Battle and Event platform Battle of Zen, Jessie will be presenting CRAWLER at 2025s Dublin Fringe and presenting new work at Light Moves Festival in Limerick. in 2025 she was commissioned by Dance Limerick to present a new work in progress missing you, missing me at What Next Festival. Jessie has presented work to date at Dublin Dance Festival including collaboration with French company Collectif Fair- E, Top 8 Street Dance Festival, Dance 2Connect Festival, Culture Night, Dublin Theatre Festival and several site-specific solo works across Ireland as well as being commissioned to make work for Youth Companies and community outreach Projects that have toured nationally. Jessie choreographed and performed in This Solution by Shaun Dunne as part of Dublin Theatre Festival 2023 & performs in Night Dances by Emma Martin/United Fall, Palimpsest by CoisCéim Dance Theatre & This-Topia by MeltyBrains?

Supported by Dance Ireland, Dublin Dance Festival, Fingal Arts Office, Galway Dance, Project Arts Centre, United Fall & Dublin Fringe Festival.

Created & Choreographed by ~ Jessie Thompson
Performed by ~ Jessie Thompson & Jason McNamara
Lighting Design by ~ John Gunning
Sound Design & Composer ~ Jason McNamara
Lighting Operator ~ Éimhín O’ Connor
Production & Stage Manager ~ Michael-Anthony Greene
Producer ~ Michael-Anthony Greene