Events / Countries and Territories / U. K. / United Kingdom comprehensively
United Kingdom comprehensively
2019
Irish dancing across the wondrous Irish landscape
Want to see Irish dancing as it should always be in the beauty of the Irish countryside?
Look no further than this beautiful video.
For last year's International Dance Day (April 29), Irish dance teacher Edwina Guckian and four of her students headed up to the top of historic Sheemore Hill in Drumsna, Co. Leitrim.
As Guckian, who has run the Sean Nós ar an tSionann dance club for the past 12 years, told IrishCentral, “The weather was beautiful and we couldn't think of a better place to record it than up on top of Sheemor. It's known locally as the fairy hill and is full of folklore. It has 3 tombs on top and was also the site of the Sheemore ambush in 1921.”
Letting the landscape inspire them, Guckian and the four dancers - Liam Taylor, Jack Hughes and Lillie and Anna Crossley, all of whom have been studying with her for seven years – stepped and tapped through till sunset.
“Lots of our dancing friends around the world were marking International Dance Day in their own exciting ways and we wanted to put our own stamp on it and do something special for Leitrim and for Ireland,” Guckian said.
They definitely succeeded, don’t you agree?
Source: https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/entertainment/irish-dancing-irish-landscape
2017
Dance, Place and Cultural Navigations
An intimate performance, screening and panel discussion
2:30 – 4pm
Galway City Museum Education Room
RACES TO NOWHERE
Performance by Magdalena Hylak
T R A C E S T O N O W H E R E explores themes of isolation and the artist's search for connection and points of anchor within her environment. The title draws from the first episode of David Lynch's cult classic Twin Peaks. A combination of the need for solitude with the desire for contact and support manifests itself in constant movement, from place to place, experience to experience, leading the dancer into a state of uneasiness, uncertainty and disorientation.
'I will always feel like a stranger here, but I would feel like a stranger anywhere in the world, detached.'
Dancer/ Choreographer: Magdalena Hylak
Video projection: Cathy Coughlan
Followed by Q&A with choreographer and dance artist Magdalena Hylak.
Magdalena Hylak is a Clifden based dancer and choreographer. She studied cultural studies, including theatre and dance, at University of Wroclaw, Poland. She has worked with many companies and choreographers including Fabulous Beast Dance Company (Irl), Liz Roche (Irl) and Lea Anderson (Uk) as part of Step Up Dance Project; Ciotóg (Irl), Catherine Young Dance (Irl) and Jacek Gębura (Pl) amongst others. Her dance productions were shown during Dublin Dance Festival, Galway Culture Night and commissioned by both Galway Dance Days and Clifden Arts Festival. Her work 'Two Years Later' was shown in Italy with the support of Culture Ireland and Galway Dance Project.
CIÚNAS
Screening directed by Bernadette Divilly.
Evolved in collaboration with NUI Galway Arts Office and Múscailt Arts Festival. Dancers: Elodie Rein, Doireann Carney and Maeve Gallagher. Videographer Maria Gibbons. It explores the place, power and presence of women at NUI Galway. The screening will be part of a short talk by director/choreographer Bernadette Divilly.
Bernadette Divilly is a Choreographer, Dance Movement Therapist & Dancer with an MA in Somatic Psychology & Dance Movement Therapy from Naropa University Boulder CO and Hons BA in Psychology from NUI Galway. She has an extensive background in Health Education and Community Dance.
Specialisations include: Socially Engaged Choreography, Contemplative Dance, Dance Movement Therapy, Somatic Psychology, Humanistic Integrative Psychotherapy and Urban Design.
The event will conclude with a short panel discussion on the topic of Dance, Place and Cultural Navigations, moderated by Galway based Dance-Artist, Patricia Glynn.
Events are free but booking is essential, as places are extremely limited. Please book with Galway City Museum.
2016
International Dance Day 2016: Top 10 quotes to enjoy and share with fellow dancers
2015
International dance day festival plans announced
by Lilly Edwards. Published Mon 20 Apr 2015 14:43, last updated: 20/04/15
A week of free activities has been announced ahead of International Dance Day.
Wednesday 29 April will see celebrations for International Dance Day take place across the world. Merseyside’s MDI will this year be celebrating the day with a week of free workshops and performances from around the world as they celebrate their 21st anniversary year.
Supported by Liverpool Central BID team and Heritage Lottery Funding, the week of celebration will kick off with two hours of dance performances taking place on Saturday 25th April between 12pm – 2pm on Church Street showcasing a variety of local artists as well as community groups. These performances will form part of the St George’s Day celebrations taking place in the city centre.
Continuing the week MDI is delighted to announce that Boy Blue Entertainment will delivering two free workshops, a professional level class on Friday 1st May from 10am – 12pm at the Bluecoat Arts Centre and an open/community class on Saturday 2nd May from 2pm – 4pm at their studio at 24 Hope Street. Boy Blue Entertainment is an award-winning hip-hop dance company founded in London by choreographer Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy and composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante. As joint Artistic Directors, they work together on the creation and development of all of Boy Blue Entertainment’s productions and projects.
On Wednesday 29th April, International Dance Day itself, MDI will be offering a day of free classes in their studio with their 50 moves class from 11am – 12.30pm and a special English Folk Dance and North African dance taster class from 1.30pm – 3pm.
Throughout the week there will also be the opportunity to visit the Black Dance Archive Exhibition which will be at the Bluecoat Arts Centre from 27th April – 10th May. The touring exhibition, delivered in partnership with State of Emergency, celebrates the contribution of British Black dance to dance development and cultural life. From 11th – 27th May the exhibition will move to Toxteth Library.
International Dance Day has been celebrated on the 29 April every year since it was launched by UNESCO in 1982 with a different figure from the dance world delivering a message each year. This year’s message has been delivered by Alkis Raftis, President of the International Dance Council CID.
For more info please visit http://www.mdi.org.uk/
