Samir Kennedy

The Aching

[8:tension] Young Choreographers' Series 2026

Before Samir Kennedy came to contemporary dance, he was at home in musical theatre. His love for music he found following a moment in his primary school choir, “when a voice that didn’t seem to be his own came out of his mouth.” In The Aching, this voice once more takes centre stage, and again it’s about channelling the other, invoking something that goes beyond Kennedy: a loved one who’s departed, a void which, at the same time, threatens to become omnipresent. Choreographic clarity and calm meet British, Irish and American folksongs, forming an intimate “gestural experiment”. And even though Kennedy sings and dances by himself, grief doesn’t appear as a purely isolating force: his requiem is also the attempt to transform that grief by sharing it with others.

Find details & tickets here.