If you’re a fan of music and contemporary dancing with an Irish and International flavour, then you won’t want to miss the Dublin Dance Festival 2009. The aim of the festival is to promote contemporary dance in Ireland and it will take place from May 8th to May 23rd 2009. Read on for more…

The Dublin Dance Festival is the only festival in Ireland that focuses on the promotion of international contemporary dance, in addition to nurturing home grown choreographic talent. You’ll be enthralled by the wealth of dance talent and shows on display.

The 1st annual Dublin Dance Festival, which took place in April/May 2008, ran for 17 days, and drew crowds of around 6,000 people! Audiences were entertained with brilliant dancing during the festival, which ended on Saturday May 3rd. So if it’s anything like last year’s event you won’t want to miss it!

The many locations that saw Irish and International dance performers were: The Abbey Theatre, Dance House, Project Arts Centre, The O’Reilly Theatre, Dublin Docklands and the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire. The headline performance was The Forsythe Company’s Three Atmospheric Studies, which took place at the Abbey Theatre.

The 2008 Festival saw hundreds of revelers strutting their stuff at Bumper To Bumper, a headphone disco organised in collaboration with Dublin Docklands Development Authority and Phantom 105.2 and held in Grand Canal Square in the Dublin Docklands. Project Arts Centre saw some fantastic works; Solo3 was performed by Jenny Roche and included choreography by John Jasperse, Jodi Melnick and Liz Roche. Former Riverdance legend Jean Butler choreographed and performed her wonderful solo Does she take sugar? Fellow Riverdance star Colin Dunne’s solo Out of Time was among several sold out shows presented at Project Arts Centre.

Among the international dance artists present during the festival were Betontanc from Slovenia, Reykjavik Dance from Iceland and US choreographer Tere O’Connor. France based company Ballet Preljocaj performed their beautiful quartet Empty Moves at the O’Reilly Theatre. Also at the O’Reilly Theatre, Risa Jaroslaw’s (US) work ResistSurrender saw four contemporary dancers perform in collaboration with a group of Dublin natives and Dublin’s Crash Ensemble, who created a musical score especially for the work.

Working in partnership again in 2008, RTÉ and the Arts Council commissioned four short dance films as part of the RTÉ Dance on the Box initiative. The four films were screened on RTÉ television and in Temple Bar’s Meeting House Square.

Indeed, Irish talent played a great role in the success of the festival. Dublin Dance Festival worked in partnership with Dance Ireland and Culture Ireland to produce Re-Presenting Ireland, a series of dance events dedicated to showcasing the talents of Irish choreographers and performers. The Festival also catered for the little ones in the family with a number of children’s productions at The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children.

All in all, the 2008 Festival was a huge success and it’s hoped to capture the public’s imagination again in 2009.

For the 2009 Dublin Dance Festival, the people behind the scenes have organised some magnificent talent for everyone to enjoy! A diverse array of contemporary dance artists are scheduled to perform.

One of the underlying themes of this year’s festival will be an investigation of cultural and spiritual identity. The opening show is Apocrifu by Belgian-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Querying the authority of the written word, Apocrifu features three very different and virtuosic dancers accompanied by a capella choral group A Filetta (Corsica).

Also headlining, Evidence, A Dance CompanyRonald K. Brown, from New York, will perform the vibrant and uplifting One Shot. Drawing its inspiration from the work of African American photographer Charles ‘Teenie’ Harris, One Shot blends African and contemporary dance vocabularies to tell about the African diaspora.

More details of the festival are due to be announced in the coming weeks!

For more information on the festival, and ticket sales please visit the Dublin Dance Festival website.

Need accommodation for the Dublin Dance Festival? Book Dublin hotels with immediate confirmation on your reservation.

Did you attend last years wonderful Dublin Dance Festival? Let us know - as always we would love to hear from you!