LOOP review - Simon Fallaha
Loop at Ulster Museum 2026 Image by Neil Harrison
"Dance your cares away, worry's for another day..."
- Fraggle Rock (1983-87)
From the boundaries of the floor space granted either by Belfast's Grand Central Station or the foyer of the Ulster Museum, depending on which venue you attend, comes boundless conceptuality in the form of Mónica Muñoz's LOOP, a Maiden Voyage Dance piece performed by Eva McGeown, Sarah Flavelle and Patrick Connolly at the 2026 Young at Art Belfast Children's Festival. With its enormously energetic performers, especially clever ideas and entirely fitting title - I'll come to the third of those in a moment - LOOP presents itself as prominently engaging for the moment and more than potentially enlightening for all ages and the ages, with universal and valuable messages delivered inspiringly, eloquently and thoughtfully. All in the space of around twenty minutes.
It all starts with the title. That title, a four-letter capital word of emphasised repetition which can very easily be perceived to be a lack of evolution. A dead end. But not here. Instead, Muñoz, the dancers and composer Katie Richardson appear to be on a welcome quest to prove that the titular loop is anything but repetitive, by telling a story of fear of stagnancy transitioning to relief in stability and then to a tower of strength while the music and movements, tailored through the art of connection and reflection, combine for individual and unified expression and invention.
Muñoz's clear fondness of colour, expertly exhibited in her own Fall And Float, returns in the costumes each performer wears here, with McGeown in red and pale green, Connolly in blue, yellow and light brown, and Flavelle in green, burgundy and purple. It is an arrestingly vibrant and foundational "paint box" for choreography where curiosity and bonding are paramount, which begins with synchronised clapping, dragging and playful smiles dovetailing with thumping musical beats that build in tension as the trio grow in understanding.
With the absence of props, nature is the primary source of nurture for LOOP and its dancers, and the piece simply thrives in this context. Experimentation is consistent, continuing with the trio spinning in a circle and then lining up a row while the rollercoaster-like beats in Richardson's music surrender themselves for a more soothing tone. Appropriately, the personalities don't adjust as smoothly as the score, with human adaptation being more complicated and less straightforward than the artistic kind – and how Muñoz presents this truthful and natural adjustment, which reads as part of the joy and pain of growth and learning, is hugely fascinating.
The intelligence of LOOP is beautifully aligned with its energy, the inquisitive translating to the lively as elegantly as McGeown, Flavelle and Connolly collaboratively connect and individually express. When the dancers place their hands on one another's heads before moving to the watching audience on the sidelines and inviting us to envisage what could rest in the palms of their hands, it's a witty visualisation of the possibilities and discoveries of shared minds, their differences and their similarities. By this stage, the bond that the trio have formed and are continuing to grow amongst themselves has clearly now been formed and is growing with the audience, too, and as the choreography increases in velocity and wonder, with at least one astonishing somersault and another simply irresistible jive to note, the audience's attention visibly reaches the level of genuinely awestruck.
A little like the Fraggles of Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock – even their own red-topped member has long hair – the terrific and of course colourfully dressed McGeown, Flavelle and Connolly absolutely relish in the playful freedom that they find within the limitations of their area. They have almost definitely danced their cares away and put any sort of worries about the metaphorical, literal and human loop of life aside for another day, in a LOOP which one could call a magic kingdom of pure imagination for its performers and its audience, and certainly another marvellous maiden voyage for Maiden Voyage.