Dance Connects

Funded by an award from Cavan County Council / Creative Ireland and in collaboration with Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and the UNESCO Global Geopark, Marble Arch Caves, this cross-border project explored pathways to engagement and work in dance experienced by dance artists and facilitators who live and / or work within territorial border areas.

Understanding these pathways requires recognition of border areas themselves as embodied spaces that exist within, across, and beyond territorial boundaries. Combining dance and social science research methods, and taking inspiration from the underground rivers of the UNESCO Global Geopark that traverse the territorial borders of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Cavan and Fermanagh, the (often) invisible pathways to dance and connections between people and places were charted through movement, discussion, and auditing/mapping, allowing for choreographic and dialogic exploration and exchange.

Led by researchers Professor Aoife McGrath (Queen's University Belfast) and Dr Victoria Durrer (University College Dublin), the project team also included research assistant, Dr Argyro Tsampazi (Queen's University Belfast), videographer, Simon Mills, and composer, Sorca McGrath. The Sites of Significance film features 15 dance artists and facilitators working in the Cavan and Fermanagh / Omagh local authority areas, and further dance artists and facilitators supported the project through engagement with the audit research.

The final project report authored by Durrer, McGrath and Tsampazi can be accessed here: Sites-of-Significance-FINAL-REPORT.pdf (size 7.8 MB)