Junk Ensemble - Mandatory 8-Count

Written and performed by Megan Kennedy & Jessica Kennedy of Junk Ensemble in response to their work with 5 Girls from Mulhuddart Boxing Academy. Commissioned by Draíocht, with support from Creative Ireland's National Creativity Fund, and funding from Fingal County Council.

​Filmed and Edited by Arcade Film.

Music composition: Denis Clohessy

“A few of the girls discovered their love of boxing through their father’s love of it. They wrote about the smells and sounds ... One had her nose broken in a fight. We worked in groups in the boxing ring, where they created their own dances in trios and pairs. We also had an exercise/task which consisted of deconstructed boxing and training movements – one example of this was: working individually with their favourite boxing footwork movement and then we removed the arm movements entirely. They also did their favourite upper body boxing movement and then we removed the lower body from the movement. It was fascinating to watch the groups perform these displaced boxing movements in the atmospheric surrounds of the boxing club, with swinging punching bags and boxing posters and training equipment in the background.

The girls live in and around Blanchardstown and Kildare. Their age group ranged from 13-16 years. Chloe is the current European champion for her age and Sophie was on the National Irish boxing team last year.”