New Dance Ireland: Choreographers of Nowness

Jean Butler, dancer, choreographer and academic, is a leading figure in the world of Irish dance performance. Best known for originating the female principle roles and co- choreographing Riverdance and Dancing on Dangerous Ground, since 2005 she has been working in a contemporary context. Butler recently taught at the prestigious Princeton Atelier and completed a Fellowship in Creative Practice from University College Dublin. Butler holds position of Assistant Professor of Irish Studies at Glucksman Ireland House, NYU. In 2018 Butler founded Our Steps Foundation and partnered with the New York Public Library of Performing Arts Jerome Robbins Dance Division to create Our Steps, Our Story: An Irish Dance Legacy, the first Irish dance archive dedicated to the solo steps of An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha. Her current project, The Stepping Fields, an intergenerational performance installation, will premier in Dublin in 2020. Butler’s work bridges the gap between a culturally specific practice and a contemporary approach to dance making and thinking. She is committed to idiosyncratic exploration within traditional form and is dedicated to expanding the canon and perception of Irish dance performance.

Darrah Carr is the artistic director of Darrah Carr Dance, a Bessie award-nominatedprofessional Irish dance company that specializes in ModERIN, a unique blend of traditional Irish step and contemporary modern dance. Recent performance highlights include: Good Morning America, NBC’s The Today Show, the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, the Duke Theater on 42nd Street, Celebrate Brooklyn, Victory Dance at the New Victory Theater, and the company’s annual New York City season at Irish Arts Center. Darrah Carr Dance has performed at venues throughout the United States including Jacob's Pillow, MASS MoCA, and The Yard. The company has toured internationally throughout Ireland and Canada. Carr holds a PhD in  dance from Texas Woman's University. She received her MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University, and is an assistant professor in the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY. Carr has published her research on Irish dance in several anthologies and is a frequent contributor to Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, and Dance Studio Life.

Seán Curran’s career in the arts spans 30 years, beginning with traditional Irish step dancing as a child in Boston. Curran is known for his early performance work with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, receiving a Bessie award for his role in Secret Pastures, and as an original New York City cast member of STOMP! His 30 works for Seán Curran Company are characterized by collaborations across artistic genres and have toured to over 100 venues in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. A sought-after choreographer and director for opera and theatre, notable projects include Salome (Opera Theatre of St. Louis, San Francisco Opera, Opera Montreal, San Diego Opera); Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Shakespeare Theater; Shalimar the Clown, Ariadne on Naxos, Nixon in China, and Daughter of the Regiment at Opera Theater of St. Louis; NYC Opera productions of L'Etoile, Alcina, Turandot, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Capriccio, and Acis and Galetea; Shakespeare in the Park's As You Like It; the Metropolitan Opera's Romeo and Juliette; and Broadway’s James Joyce's The Dead, Cymbeline, and The Rivals at Lincoln Center Theater. A graduate and faculty member of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Curran now serves as arts professor and chair of the department of dance.

Oona Doherty studied at the London School Of Contemporary Dance, University of Ulster and LABAN London, where she received her honors BA and post graduate degreesin contemporary dance studies. She has been performing dance theatre internationally since 2010 with companies such as TRASH (NL), Abbattoir Ferme (BE), Veronika Riz (IT), Emma Martin/United Fall (IE), and Enda Walsh (IE). Her choreography, including Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus (2015/20), Hard to Be Soft—A Belfast Prayer (2017/20) and Lady Magma (2019/21), has toured extensively in Europe to critical acclaim. Awards include Aerowaves Selected Artist and Best Performer at the 2016 Dublin Fringe Festival (Hope Hunt), Total Theatre Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, Cognisance Grenoble judges' first place and audience 1st place, and the 2017 Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council Northern Ireland. Oona has been awarded the following residencies: 2016 MAC Theatre Belfast HATCH Artist, 2016/17 A Prime Cut Productions REVEAL Artist, 2017/18 Maison de la Danse Associate Artist Lyon, and 2017/19 La Briquetterie Associate Artist Paris.

Aoife Mcatamney is a freelance choreographer, contemporary dancer and songwriter based in Dublin. She studied in London and Germany, completing an apprenticeship with four prolific choreographers including William Forsythe and Wayne McGregor. Aoife danced with company T.r.a.s.h. (Netherlands) and choreographers Regina van Berkel (Germany), Emma Martin, John Scott, Fearghus Ó Conchúir, Anneke Hansen (US), and Sara Rudner (US). Her choreography includes Sweetheart That’s The Interesting Part and What’s the Matter?. Collaborations with Nina Vallon and Ioannis Mandafoundis created two duets, Egg Charade and One One One. Ossip Mandelstam: A Performance is her second creation with Swiss company Cie Ioannis Mandafounis. Aoife has numerous awards from the Arts Council of Ireland and Culture Ireland. She was an associate artist of Dance Ireland, a carte blanche artist and an Aerowaves Selected Artist for 2014 touring with her solo Sofer Swells. Her ongoing collaborations include Pink Breath with musician Shane Holly, and theatre performances with director Zoe Ní Riordáin.

Mary Nunan is a contemporary dance artist, choreographer, and performer.Throughout her career Mary has created a substantial body of critically acclaimed solo and ensemble choreographies that have been performed at national and international venues. Her professional career began when she joined Ireland's first state-funded contemporary dance company, Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre (1981-86). She was founding artist director of Daghdha Dance Company (1988-1999). The screen adaptation of one of her works for this company, Territorial Claims, was presented at the Lincoln Centre’s Dance-for-Camera festival in 1998. Mary was the course director of the MA in contemporary dance performance at the University of Limerick (1999-2016). During this time she co-curated alongside Yoshiko Chuma a series of performances and workshops by some of the seminal artists of the Judson Dance Theatre, including Steve Paxton and Yvonne Rainer. Artists with whom she has recently collaborated include Lin Snelling, Guy Cools, Joan Davis, and Mary Wycherley.

Her most recent solo, The Movement (2017), was commissioned as part of her activities as Bealtaine national dance artist in residence. 

Liv O'Donoghue is a maker and performer based in Dublin. She trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in the UK, graduating with the Outstanding Achievement award in 2007. Since then, she has worked with companies including Dead Centre, Liz Roche Company, Fearghus Ó Conchuir, Emma Martin Dance, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, and junk ensemble, touring widely throughout Europe, Australia and the US. Her own work has been shown widely in Ireland and abroad, as part of CODA Festival (Oslo Opera House, Norway), DancEUnion (Southbank Centre, London), Works & Process (D.ID, Austria), Laiks Dejot (Latvia), B-Motion (Italy), and Festival Instances (CND Chalon-sur-Saone, France), among others. She has undertaken artistic residencies at the Centre Culturel Irlandais (Paris), DansearenaNord (Norway), Dance House Lemesos (Cyprus), D.ID (Austria), and CSC Bassano del Grappa (Italy). Liv is a co-founder of DRAFF, an international print and online platform focusing on process in dance and theatre.

Liam O'Scanlain, from Newport in County Mayo, has been dancing since he was five years old and was an All Ireland sean-nós dancing champion. A graduate of the MA program in Irish traditional dance performance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (University of Limerick), in 2016 Liam was appointed associate artist in traditional dance at Dance Ireland in Dublin.

Dylan Quinn has worked as a dance artist for 25 years and since 2010 has been artistic director of Dylan Quinn Dance Theatre. He has developed his career in professional and community practice, exploring a range of social and political issues through performance, participation, and research activities. 

Dylan has been supported by a range of national UK and Irish organizations, including Culture Ireland, the British Council, Bonnie Bird, and Arts Council of Northern Ireland. He is a board member of UK organization People Dancing, and a 2018 nominee for the Irish Times Movement Director award. 

Dylan has presented performances and projects across Europe, America, Australia, Hong Kong, India, and Ghana. He is currently developing a socially engaged artistic practice that seeks to empower people to better understand their political agency and responsibility.

Dublin-born John Scott studied English literature at University College Dublin and dance at Irish National College of Dance and Dublin City Ballet. He later studied with Pablo Vela, Meredith Monk, Susan Buirge, Julian Beck, and Judith Malina. He performed in Meredith Monk’s Quarry and for Yoshiko Chuma, Sara Rudner, Anna Sokolow, and Thomas Lehmen. Scott founded IMDT in 1991. His work has been performed at Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey, La MaMa, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, and in Europe. He has also created works for Blanca Arrieta company (Spain) and Conservatoire National Supérieur (Paris).

Nigerian born Irish dancer Mufutau Yusuf graduated from SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance) in 2016 and has since been working and collaborating with various choreographers as well as developing his own artistic works. He is currently working with Belgian company Ultima Vez. When he isn’t in the studio, he’s to be found in the kitchen cooking up a storm or curiously meddling with other art forms.