News
Sites of Significance
Sites of Significance is a research report and short documentary film exploring pathways to engagement and work in dance experienced by dance artists and facilitators who live and / or work within territorial border areas of Cavan and Fermanagh-Omagh Council areas.
This cross-border project was funded by an award from Cavan County Council / Creative Ireland in collaboration with Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and the UNESCO Global Geopark, Marble Arch Caves.
Combining dance and social science research methods, and taking inspiration from the underground rivers of the UNESCO Global Geopark that traverse the territorial borders of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Cavan and Fermanagh, the (often) invisible pathways to dance and connections between people and places were charted through movement, discussion, and auditing/mapping, allowing for choreographic and dialogic exploration and exchange.
Led by researchers Professor Aoife McGrath (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr Victoria Durrer (University College Dublin), the project team also included research assistant, Dr Argyro Tsampazi (Queen’s University Belfast), videographer Simon Mills, and composer Sorca McGrath.
The Value of Dance for Social Connection and Health
The report includes a series of recommendations for building capacity and nurturing dance in the region. Dance facilitators and professionals identified health and wellbeing as areas of their practice that they wish to develop further in the future. One of the report recommendations is for greater recognition and resourcing by local authorities of local dance facilitators for their contribution to social and health-based outcomes.
Data gathering via telephone interviews and at a Gathering event demonstrated a sense of shared value in dance as a professional as well as a source of everyday enjoyment and support for wellbeing.
Screendance Film
The project film captures the dance practice-as-research methods that took place at the Gathering. It features 15 dance artists and facilitators working in the Cavan and Fermanagh / Omagh local authority areas, and further dance artists and facilitators who supported the project through engagement with the audit research.
