Genre Debates: the Dance and the Bathwater

Abstract

Following the discussion of the historical development of dance theatre in Chapter 2, this chapter locates the practice of contemporary dance theatre choreographers within the context of both the current Irish dance landscape and international dance theatre practice. As shown in the previous chapter, although there are several examples of interdisciplinary choreographies to be found in Ireland prior to the work of companies in the 1990s and beyond, the earlier practitioners found it difficult to achieve any substantial level of support or understanding for their work. Although they themselves were connected to international developments, Yeats, Brady and Davis were situated in geographic isolation from their European and US peers, and were all considered to be operating as lone pioneers in Ireland, struggling to forge a niche for their dance theatre practice in a largely unwelcoming cultural terrain. In contrast with this, the wave of dance companies founded in Ireland in the early 1990s began to establish a critical mass in the area of contemporary dance, and so when CoisCéim and Fabulous Beast emerged in the mid-90s, they joined a small, yet vibrant, contemporary dance scene. Yet the work of these two companies, positioned as it is between dance and theatre, differed in content and aesthetic from the practice of other dance companies.