Author Archives: Fearghus
← Older posts Newer posts →Starlight rehearsals London
April 17, 2012It’s over a year since Starlight started as a research residency at The Firkin Crane in Cork. I worked with Matthew Morris, intending to make a solo with him. An alignment of stars meant that Peggy Grelat Dupont came too, … read more…
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentChoreographers and control
March 20, 2012On Saturday I saw two very different performances that made me think about choreography and control. read more…
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentTabernacle: Gabriel Schmitz and Tove Hirth
January 28, 2012When we were in residence in Barcelona last November, sculptor Tove Hirth and painter Gabriel Schmitz spent some time in the studio drawing, photographing and absorbing our rehearsals for Tabernacle. Their sensitivity to evocative images of bodies arranged in space meant that they saw so much of the detail of the piece. And their generous seeing was gratifying for me and for the dancers.
Now I am delighted to see some of the results of their seeing emerging in their work. read more…
Salute to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company
January 11, 2012I’m not the first to note the challenge of trying to see Cunningham choreography. The dances themselves are built to kill lazy looking: You have to make decisions. read more…
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentOnly you: Teatr magazine
January 1, 2012After my residency in Poznan last year, I was invited to write an article for the Polish journal Teatr. I’ve just received a copy: Only you Fearghus Ó Conchúir Last January, as part of a research opportunity at The Arts … read more…
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentTabernacle: David Lotric’s photos of the technical rehearsal at Kino Siska
December 28, 2011Though the technical rehearsal went on late into the evening, David Lotric stayed with us and what his photos show me is that even when the dancers are not ‘performing’ they communicate simply and honestly the kind of humanity that … read more…
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentTabernacle: After Ljubljana and London
December 18, 2011My not having posted so much about the Ljublljana and London legs of the Tabernacle tour has causes that are prosaic and instructive. On the prosaic side, I started to get tired as we progressed, particularly after the travel delay … read more…
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentMo Mhórchoir Féin wins audience award at the Capital Irish Film Festival
December 12, 2011Mo Mhórchoir Féin shared the audience award for best short with David Bolger’s Deep End Dance at the Capital Irish Film Festival, organised by Solas Nua in Washington. Fearghus was there to accept the award on behalf the whole team … read more…
Posted in Blog | 1 Comment‘Catch me’: Mary Kate Connolly’s essay on text in Irish contemporary dance
December 7, 2011What catches my attention in this article is the notion of the redistribution of mind, so that thinking is no longer the sole province of a mind imagined as residing in, but irreducible to, the physical mass of the brain. Instead the whole body becomes an agent of thought. And so dancing becomes a way of thinking.
So while Tabernacle might frustrate people who wish only to apply a rationalist thinking to their encounter with the work, it invites instead a thinking through the body. Not anti-thought but asking for a more whole-bodied approach to thinking. read more…
Posted in Blog | Leave a commentTabernacle in Barcelona: The performance
November 15, 2011I’m writing this post after midnight in the A&E of Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic where Mikel is having his ankle checked having twisted it at the start of tonight’s performance of Tabernacle. Watching the show I knew he was more physically … read more…
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