April 2007 - Dance Ireland

Dance Ireland is a multi-faceted resourceorganisation dedicated to developingprogrammes and supports which respond tothe needs of the professional dance artist,while simultaneously increasing the generalpublic’s involvement in dance at all levels.Dance Ireland’s programme in 2007 can beseen to form three distinct areas of activity.Firstly, our professional developmentprogramme develops our long-standingcommitment to creative dance practicenationally. Secondly, our evolving outreachprogramme aims to engage and collaboratewith local communities and organisations inmaking participation in dance easier andmore accessible. Finally, the DanceHouseweekly evening classes continue to grow inpopularity, making our new home a focus fordance and movement-related activities in thecapital. We’d like to share with our readers justhow much is happening.The backbone of our programme is theprovision of professional morning classes in arange of contemporary dance techniques,classical ballet and complimentary dancegenres. For details on these on-going trainingclasses, regular cross arts events andinternational residencies, please consult thetimetable at the back of each issue. Within ourprofessional development programme, ourtraining and educational service currentlysupports classes, workshops, residencies andchoreographic laboratories in Dublin, Cork,Belfast, Galway, Kerry,Roscommon/Westmeath,Wexford, Kildare andLimerick. Also, in response to requests forgreater access to affordable and subsidisedstudio space, as well as increased exchangeand performing opportunities, we haveintroduced three new initiatives: the danceincubator programme, the internationalexchange programme and winging it. Withspecific reference to our aim of supporting thedevelopment of choreographic practice, ourTHE YEAR AHEAD4newly launched Scheme for YoungChoreographer will give one young artist theopportunity to create and perform a newwork as part of the forthcoming Irish YouthDance Festival. This year’s Irish ChoreographersNew Works Platform will be presented in Corkin late Autumn. And we are working on anumber of other choreographic developmentinitiatives to be confirmed for later in the year.A well attended Occupational First-Aid Course(March) was the first of a series of professionaldevelopment workshops offered this year, andcompliments our ongoing services as aresource organisation, providing a range ofinformation and advice on dance matters toartists and practitioners. Further plans includea number of regional ‘dance clinics’ plannedfor the coming months. Our Resource Roomnow includes a growing library of books,videos and magazines as well as Macs,internet access and administration facilities -to take advantage of all this, please contactreception. Our new redesigned website:www.danceireland.ie will go live from mid-April. On the publication front, along withongoing monthly Dance Ireland News andfortnightly e-bulletin, we will follow our verywell received A Guide to IndependentChoreographers and Dance Companies 1stEdition, with a second updated version, to bepublished at the beginning of 2008. Otherpublications planned include a document onyouth dance outreach.The aspiration behind our outreachprogramme is to take dance into the localcommunity and to provide opportunities forpeople everywhere to engage withDanceHouse. An example of this is oursponsorship of the Macushla Dance Club.Beginning in January, this programme ofdance for older people led by Ríonach Ní Néillstarted with weekly dance classes inDanceHouse and we’re delighted to announcethat so far more than 300 older people have