What genres of dance is the project looking to examine?
Our project partners come from different dance backgrounds: Dylan Quinn (contemporary dance), Ruth Clarke (Scottish Country), Jamie Fagan (Hip-Hop), Aysha Treanor (Hip-Hop), Jessie Keenan (Contemporary Dance), Tina McGurren (Jive and Line Dance), Rebeca Sanchez (Flamenco), and Marian Crowe (Sean-Nós and Set Dancing).
The project is inclusive of many dance genres and all dance practitioners with activity in Cavan, Fermanagh/Omagh and Monaghan are welcome to fill in the survey and be included in the online database of dance facilitators and artists. The facilitators survey can be found here.
What are the key aims of this project?
The project aims to establish a sustainable, rural dance network that engages in cross-genre peer sharing and skill building. It also seeks to increase public awareness of dance activity in rural border regions on the island and highlight the benefits of participating in cross-border dance sharing activities, and the value of dance as a professional, enjoyable, social, cultural (community-building, cross-island) and creative endeavour.
What resources does the project hope to produce?
The Dance Connects Exhibition, Moving Through and Around, opened at Strule Arts Centre in July 2025. It invites audiences to experience the diverse range of dance practiced in this border region through sculpture, sound, video, photography, drawings, and movement capture. Further workshops and sharing events with the public will take place alongside the touring exhibition, which will continue into 2026 across venues in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The exhibition was developed by Helena Hamilton, Aoife McGrath, Sorca McGrath, and Simon Mills in collaboration with 8 dancers working across the rural border regions of Cavan, Fermanagh-Omagh and Monaghan: Ruth Clarke, Marion Crowe, Jamie Fagan, Jessie Keenan, Tina McGurren, Rebeca Sanchez, Aysha Treanor, and Dylan Quinn.
Two Cross-Border Dance Databases for the local authority regions that will also ensure the sustainability and future growth of connections forged through this project.
A project website hosted by Queen’s University Belfast will also be launched soon, featuring the project film, podcasts, exhibition touring details and dance databases.
