this is an Irish dance

Jean Butler Dance presents

this is an Irish dance  Jean Butler and Neil Martin

 Choreography and performance Jean Butler

Composition and performance Neil Martin

Lime Tree Theatre | Fri, 17th Feb | 8pm | €20/€16

Jean Butler’s last Danspace commission, hurry (2013), invoked the choreographer’s celebrated past in Irish Step Dance. Her new duet, this is an Irish dance, created with Belfast-based cellist Neil Martin further unearths her roots by returning to the relationship between live music and movement as the compositional departure point for the work.

Inspired by the interdependent relationship between music and dance and the formal spatial relationship between dancer and musician that characterizes her tradition, the piece explores the often-invisible interplay between dancer and musician in live performance. The movement and music, created simultaneously through improvisation during the piece’s development, raise questions about who is leading and who is following. this is an Irish dance reveals a dialogue between music and movement, movement and sound, sound and space, space and sculpture, sculpture and body, body and instrument, cello and cellist, cellist and dancer, and ultimately a man and woman.

Creative Team

Design Frank Conway

Lighting Design Michael Cummins

Costume Jean Butler

Rehearsal Assistant Kristyn Fontanella

Set Construction Michael Cummins and Milo Cummins

Production Manager Michael Cummins

Production Coordinator Barry McKinney

Publicity Stephanie Dickenson

Commissioned by Project Arts Center, Danspace Project, and Irish Arts Center.

The creation of this is an Irish dance was made possible, in part, with support from the Danspace Project 2015-2016 Commissioning Initiative with funds from the Jerome Foundation. this is an Irish dance was supported by developmental residencies at Dance Limerick, Siamse Tire, and Bennington College, Vermont.

 The creation of this is an Irish dance was funded by The Arts Council of Ireland

“Butler and Martin engage in an intense, affectionate, sometimes flirtatious musical conversation. Butler is an extraordinary dancer, the accent of her dancing is distinctly Irish. Her footwork is light and crisp-she skitters across the floor, like a butterfly skimming the surface of a lake.” Marina Harss, The New Yorker

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Please note all ticket prices include €1 per ticket booking charge.

No exchanges or refunds.

For all performances at the Lime Tree Theatre, wheelchair spaces can only be booked over the phone.

Please call 061 953400 if you wish to book a wheelchair space.

No late comers admitted to the theatre after the show commences.

Limited parking availabile for partrons, please arrive early. Disability and bus parking available.