Mother & Baby Movement Group

• 8 weekly sessions (11.30–12.30 Saturdays, from October 11th to November 29th)
• For mothers with one baby up to 1 year. For everyone’s safety, there are no older siblings allowed (strictly)
• €45 for the full programme
• Booking is for the full series only

Over 8 weeks, mothers and their babies (up to 1 year) are invited into Rua Red’s performance space to explore movement as a creative practice shaped by the realities of early motherhood.

What to Expect:

• Gently working on strength and stretching for postpartum bodies
• Playing around with the physicality of common domestic scenes that slip between drama and comedy
• Warming up in ways that adapt the meditative ways of soothing and repetition
• Moving with awareness of our heightened sense of stability, reflexes and consciousness/unconsciousness
• Sharing! Participants are welcome to bring suggestions, tell stories, step in as lead, step out as needed, help another as a carer, bring poems, props, etc.

Guided by artist Gráinne O’Carroll, whose work spans visual art and physical theatre, the sessions aim to combine structured exercises with improvisation, inviting participants to move with their babies, respond to music, and experiment with rhythm, interruption, and repetition. Rocking, bouncing, swaying, and even feeding become part of the material we work with, rather than distractions.

Gráinne will be facilitating and participating with her own (then) 7-month-old, creating a space that is not quite a class, not quite a mother-and-baby group, but something in-between: a shared exploration of movement, expression, and exchange. Sometimes there will be interruptions, and that´s okay!

Important:

• Participants need to bring a sling/carrier for their baby, wear comfortable clothes, and be comfortable barefoot/in socks.
• Participants needn’t have professional movement experience but should feel comfortable carrying their baby in a sling/carrier for approx 45 mins.
• Participants should be able to attend at least 6 out of 8 sessions

After each session, participants are encouraged to hang out for a chat at Rua Red’s café!

About Gráinne O’Carroll: Gráinne O’Carroll is a Dublin-based artist working across visual art and physical theatre. Trained in Dublin, Bergen and Barcelona, her practice explores the body as site and subject of intelligence, mystery and creativity, often through improvisation and collective processes. As a first-time mother, she is currently researching how the everyday gestures, interruptions, and physicality of early motherhood can generate new creative forms and shared performance languages.