Last weekend wrapped up another fantastic experience, spending some time in the studio with Jean Butler and Colin Dunne, learning choreography from their iconic 2000 production, Dancing on Dangerous Ground. I went to the first round of this experience last year in Berlin and it was a privilege to be back, this time at the University of Limerick. It had been 18 years since I’d finished my MA in traditional Irish dance at UL’s Irish World Academy, and in that time, they built a gorgeous new building! It is a huge upgrade from our windowless basement studio in the Foundation Building, but that space had its magic, too. I had visited the campus since the new academy was built, but this was the first time I got to dance in these beautiful studios overlooking the Shannon River.
It was great to see old friends and meet new ones. Irish dance is such a small but vast community—we all have about one degree of separation, spread out all over the world. This year, there were about 50 participants from nine different countries. What I love about this event in particular is the lack of expectations. No one has any competitive spirit, and we are all there just to absorb the material and the style that Jean and Colin had to share with us, and take from it what we can. There was a great amount of respect for both the dance and each other, which is so uplifting.
We spent the weekend working on two pieces from the show, The Seduction and The Capture. The Seduction is a rhythmically beautiful choreography that is very challenging stylistically. Like last year, we were asked to keep our weight low and knees soft, and to dance quietly, undoing years of competitive dance training, which feels great. The Capture is a genius choreography in the way that the rhythms build in canon to suggest an enclosing and ultimate capture.
I had a moment of appreciation while we were learning The Capture. Colin gave us the rhythm and then quickly put us into four groups to build a canon around it and asked us to try it out. To our surprise, we got it immediately! I turned to my friend and said, “God, I love Irish dancers.” We were coming from all over the world, most of us having never danced together, but we all speak the same rhythmic language and know exactly what to do. Having so often been in spaces where we have to explain ourselves as Irish dancers, it is so refreshing to be in a room where we all just get it already.
Besides the dancing, I also had the giddy joy of visiting the National Dance Archive of Ireland (NDAI) for the first time. The NDAI is housed on the University of Limerick campus, and I sifted through some of Brian Bunting’s collection on festival style Irish dance and his time dancing with Patricia Mulholland. There were videos (!), program booklets, competition results, costume renderings, and even handmade costume pieces. I definitely need more time in the archive!
And, of course, I couldn’t pass through Limerick without catching up with my dear mentor, Dr. Catherine Foley. Every year, I see more and more how much her influence has shaped my life.
Overall, I made some great connections with dancers, teachers, and fellow dance company directors, so I’m looking forward to continued conversations.
Thanks to Jean and Colin for sharing more of this work with us, and to Gyula Glaser and Ciara Sexton for organizing. I consider it a great privilege to be in conversation with Colin and Jean, two of the greatest pioneers of this dance that I love so much.
