Brigid
Click here if you liked this article 1 
https://carriageworks.com.au/events/liveworks-festival/
Date Reviewed: 26/10/2025
BRIGID is a dance and sound performance performed by Alice Heyward, Oisin Monaghan and Ivey Wawn, where elements of mythology, grief and diasporic identity intertwine.
It is inspired by the pre-Christian goddess of Irish tradition Brigid (goddess of fire and wellsprings) who is renowned for kindling creativity, healing the wounded and guarding the thresholds between life and death.
Alice Heyward its lead artist and creator, is a dancer, choreographer and writer, originating from Melbourne. She, graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2013 and has continued her study and investigation into dance through performance, writing, and choreography.
BRIGID presents as an immersive piece, full of Celtic rhythms and folklore.
Entering the bare performance space, one is engulfed in a haze, that transports the audience to another time, another world.
What seems dark and empty at first slowly comes to life in a form of resurrection. This is a sacred place and time.
In the mystery and desolation of the setting, three performers take shape. The pace changes as we are moved from total darkness towards the emerging light - in a sense from death to life. The mood becomes jubilant, transformative and loud, only interrupted by the grief-stricken wailing of otherworldly figures that retreat and in turn complete the cycle back into darkness.
Dance is at the centre of the piece and the performance of Heyward, Monaghan and Wawn and the patterns and story they create is exceptional.
The almost mystical mood existing within the performance space is creatively created and carried by the interplay of lighting, sound and a haze and an accompanying and emotive soundtrack composed and performed by Gregor Kompar.
The choreography was devised by Alice Heyward and Oisin Monaghan, costuming by Chloe Hagger and lighting by Andre Vanderwert.
Light and darkness, rhythms and dance, the wailing of Banshees and ancient rituals come together in a performance that in the end is quite unique and unforgettable.
BRIGID is one of the many elements that contribute to the LIVEWORKS Festival, a bi-annual celebration of living art. The festival running 22 -26 October, 2025 is presented by Performance Space, based on Gadigal Land in Redfern and is dedicated to the development and presentation of radical and genre-defying art and performance.
The festival is hosted by Carriageworks, Sydney.