Biography
Fearghus Ó Conchúir is a choreographer, dance artist and artistic director. Brought up in the Ring Gaeltacht in Ireland, he completed degrees in English and European Literature at Magdalen College Oxford, before training at London Contemporary Dance School.
Frequently collaborating with artists and experts from other disciplines, he is a champion for what dance can help us understand about how we live in the world. His film and live performances, presented around the world, create frameworks for audiences and artists to build communities together. His multi-platform work, The Casement Project, was one of the Arts Council’s National Projects for Ireland 2016 and was also part of the Ireland 2016 International Programme and of the 14-18now programme of WWI Centenary Art Commissions.
From 2018-2020 Fearghus was Artistic Director of National Dance Company Wales where focused the Company on making brilliant work with and for all kinds of people in all kinds of places. This included premiering his work, Annwyl i mi at the Eisteddfod and bringing it to Japan as part of Wales’ cultural programme around the Rugby World Cup; as well as making a dance film with the participants of the Company’s Dance for Parkinsons group and curating KIN with new work by Alexandra Waierstall and a revival of Nigel Charnock’s iconic Lunatic in a programme designed to reflect on what it takes to build resilient, inclusive communities of support, challenge and care.
In addition to his own choreography, he has danced for other companies such as Adventures in Motion Pictures, Catapult Dance Company, Ciotóg, Claire Russ Ensemble and Arc Dance Company, where he was assistant to the choreographer, Kim Brandstrup.
He was the first Ireland Fellow on the Clore Leadership Programme and continues to contribute to the programme as a facilitator, coach and speaker. in 2019 he was appointed Deputy Chair of the Arts Council of Ireland. He is former board member of The BBC Performing Arts Fund, of Project Arts Centre, of Dance Digitial, of Create and of Dance Ireland.
He was a reporter for Imeall, TG4′s flagship arts programme.
Fearghus is one of the founding Associate Artists at Project Arts Centre. He gained his PhD at the Geography Department in NUI Maynooth with the support of an IRC Employment-based Scholarship.
‘Ó Conchúir has an intellectual restlessness that pulls him in different directions, but his sure-footedness, … will ensure his ideas continue to be communicated limpidly’ Michael Seaver, Ballet Tanz Yearbook 2006
Michael Seaver writes about Fearghus in The Irish Times – Read Article