Gestures of Resistance: Dance in 1990s Ireland

Contemporary dance is a highly ephemeral art form operating on the margins of Irish arts where its history remains to a large extent undocumented and its status fragile. Contemporary dance is also particularly reliant on Arts Council resources and therefore funding decisions by that body to reduce and, in some instances, withdraw funding from established dance companies in the late 1980s had significant impact. This chapter contextualizes practices and productions of select Irish-based choreographers who established independent dance companies in the early 1990s. Interviews with the choreographers are testament to the role that dance training played in forging their dance aesthetic, and, as this group of choreographers studied with important dance artists abroad, a picture emerges of an Irish-based dance practice of embodied internationalism. Mid-decade, a new Arts Plan put forward policy on dance that was perceived to evince a distinct and quintessential ‘Irish’ flavour. Randy Martin’s concept of ‘mobilization’ (which he borrows from Marx) provides a framework for consideration of choreographers’ artistic choices as resisting perceived pressure set out by the status quo. In determining their individual artistic autonomies, choreographers anticipated the trend towards globalization that would engulf Ireland at the decade’s end. These choreographers were instrumental in embedding a range of international dance practices in Ireland. An increased diversity of style and aesthetic followed which included an embrace of interdisciplinary creative processes. Thus, their work responded to creative ideas of their international counterparts signalling the expansion of the parameters of the art form in Ireland.