What happens after the project in Ethiopia comes to an end? Do you then return to Belfast?
It had been a steep learning curve, not just because of the language barriers. The people we were working with had absolutely no framework for understanding what we were trying to do. The children were extremely poor. They had little food, no clothes other than what they stood up in, and they had no access to water to wash themselves. Many were also responsible for family members.
Dance is physically hard work,and they could not have taken part in the project if we had not addressed these issues. So we offered a little bit of money for transport and to help their families, organised food, provided a change of clothes, built some showers and begged the Hilton Hotel for left over soap. Through doing that, eventually, we managed to overcome all the obstacles.
When 18 young dancers and 12 film makers graduated with credits from Middlesex University our job was done and it was time to leave them to develop their own work.
We all felt, Royston, myself and Andrew Coggins who had instigated the project, that we had developed a substantial range of skills ourselves which could be transferred to our own communities.
What happens on your return?
We set up an organisation called Dance United which operated in Belfast, London and Groningen. Eventually the work in Northern Ireland became independent under the banner Dance United Northern Ireland, which after a while morphed into DU Dance (NI). The company delivers professional development work in and with communities across the island of Ireland, the UK and internationally.
Where to now for DU Dance and yourself?
Those are the hardest questions to answer.
With regards DU Dance, well I’m now in my 60’s and I think succession planning has to start soon. I don’t not want to work in the sector, but there is so much admin which goes into running a company which I would be happy to leave behind. I believe fundamentally in the impact of the work of the company, but I am also conscious that I will need to step back in a couple of years and let new blood take over.
For me, well I want to go back to Ethiopia, I want to go back and complete the projects I have started in Palestine, so stopping doing administrative work for DU Dance doesn’t necessarily mean stopping working. I want to be involved in development work and there is still lots to do ……
See more of the work of Mags Byrne at the link below
