A rare look into the life of a dancer beyond the performance, Totally Dublin

Traditionally, the worth of a dancer's career has been measured by time spent in the limelight. Yet a dancer’s experience of their career extends beyond the stage. It influences the personal, the mundane and the philosophical. This is it, a collection of multimedia portraits by dance artist and director Laura Murphy, expands our understanding of dance beyond traditional structures into the personal realm.

Collaborating with filmmaker Pato Cassinoni, animator Alan Early and composer Irene Buckley, Murphy presents an innovative and multifaceted exploration of eight women in dance in Ireland: Jean Butler, Alicia Christofi Walshe, Lisa Cliffe, Finola Cronin, Joan Davis, Katherine O'Malley, Mary Nunan and Angie Smalis.

This is it challenges conventional views on dance and success. The portraits reveal the unspoken values that are often difficult to articulate and easy to forget, creating a unique living archive of untold stories of dance.

Dancers have notoriously short careers. The dance artist and director Laura Murphy graciously offers greater longevity by noting them in this film. A collection of multimedia portraits, this welcome exploration challenges notions of what we view as success.  **** The Irish Times

Hallway

Trio | Movements 1 – 6 (6mins)

Mary Nunan is a contemporary dance artist: choreographer, performer, teacher. Her professional career began when she joined Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre (1981-86). She was founder Artistic Director of Daghdha Dance Company (1988-1999). During this time she created a substantial number of critically acclaimed ensemble choreographies that were toured extensively to venues at home and abroad including: London (South Bank), Berlin (Podweil Theatre), Munich (Dance ’95), Paris (Pompidou Centre) and Festival Cervantino, Guanajuato Mexico. The screen adaptation of her dance-theatre work Territorial Claims was selected for screening at the Lincoln Centre’s Dance-for-Camera Festival, NY (1998). Mary was Course Director of the MA Contemporary Dance Performance, UL (1999-2016). Her most recent solo Slant was performed in NYC at the 92Y and in venues throughout Ireland. She is a member of The Parsley Collective, a Limerick-based improvisation ensemble. Mary earned her PhD from Middlesex University (2013). She has published several articles on choreographic process and performance.

Gallery II

Footnotes

Dancer, choreographer, and Our Steps Artistic Director Jean Butler is a leading figure in the world of contemporary Irish dance performance. Her most recent production, What We Hold premiered at Dublin Theatre Festival in 2022 to critical acclaim and had its North American premiere at Irish Arts Center, NY with a sellout run of 30 shows in 2024. In 2018 Jean founded Our Steps and partnering with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library initiated, Our Steps initiated Our Steps, Our Story: An Irish Dance Legacy Archive. To date, this ever -expanding archive has created over 200 hours of video and audio resources of never documented solo set dances and oral history interviews spanning seven decades of history from Ireland, England, Scotland, the United States and Canada. Jean Butler is the recipient of many prestigious honors and awards.

Gallery III

Tryptic: Outside In, Joan, A Life in Dance (21min)

Outside In

Katherine O'Malley is a dance artist, teacher and choreographer. She is a qualified Amatsu Orthopath, a Japanese natural healing art and movement philosophy. She has worked with Liz Roche Company, Mary Nunan, Liv O’Donoghue, John Scott Dance-IMDT, Sara Rudner (USA), Fearghus Ó Conchúir, Ciotóg Dance Company, Macushla Dance Club, Maiden Voyage (NI), Splinter Productions with Morleigh Steinburg and Oguri (USA), Thomas Lehmen (GR) and Rebecca Walter, Pappa Tarrahumara (JP), Abbey Theatre, Pan Pan Theatre, Bedrock Productions, Landmark Productions, The Helix and Opera Ireland. Her recent choreographic/director credits include: Some Destroyed Sites (2019) with collaborators Ella Clarke and Jason Byrne and Bias (2016) a solo produced by Liz Roche Company.

Joan

Joan Davis has been exploring the nature of creativity, particularly from a body-based perspective, for over 50 years. She pioneered contemporary dance in Ireland in the 70s and 80s and has experimented with collaborative art as a professional artist and therapist.

A Life in Dance

Finola Cronin trained in dance in Dublin and London. She danced with Company Vivienne Newport (Frankfurt), Tanztheater Wuppertal (dir. Pina Bausch), and Raimund Hoghe (Dusseldorf). In Ireland she performed with Liz Roche Company, John Gerrard (Galway 2020), and Junk Ensemble most recently appearing in Dances Like a Bomb.

She serves as Chairperson of Ciotóg Dance Company, is a board member of Ériu Dance Company, and Dance Research Forum Ireland. She is a former Chairperson of the Association of Professional Dancers of Ireland, and has served on a number of Boards including Dublin Dance Festival (Vice-Chair), and Siamsa Tíre-The National Folk Theatre. She was Dance Specialist to the Arts Council of Ireland 2003-2007. She is Emeritus Assistant Professor and former Head of Drama Studies in the School of English, Drama, and Film at University College Dublin. Her research interests and publications are in the field of Irish and European contemporary dance practices.

About the creator

Laura Murphy is an award-winning choreographer, performer and teacher. Taking an expansive approach to dance, she has developed a multi-disciplinary dance practice, working in stage performance, film, installation and large socially engaged projects. With her trademark all female casts, her work has been described as gentle and eccentric.

Laura Murphy Dance has been widely presented to include Tanzmesse (DE) Fira Tàrrega (ES), Edinburgh Fringe (UK), Judson Church (US), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (RO), Dublin Dance Festival and Cork Midsummer Festival (IRL). Laura has been a recipient of numerous Arts Council awards and several prestigious national and international residencies. In 2017, she was awarded Best Movement Director in The Irish Times Theatre Awards. Laura teaches on the BA Drama and Theatre Studies course at Trinity College Dublin. In 2024 she works as Associate Director to Jean Butler’s What We Hold at the Irish Arts Centre, NYC and as a performer in Joan Davis’ Garden as Gallery.                                                                                                         

www.lauramurphy.ie

CREDITS

Director & Choreographer                                        Laura Murphy

Filmmaker & Editor                                                     Pato Cassinoni

Animator                                                                        Alan Early

Music & Sound                                                             Irene Buckley

Sound Mix                                                                     Cormac O'Connor

Text Editor                                                                     Laura Murphy with Stephen Collins, Niamh Prior

Trio | Movements 1 – 6

Dancers                                                                          Marion Cronin, Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín, Sarah Ryan

Research Dancer                                                          Robyn Byrne

Advisors                                                                         Colin Dunne, Jools Gilson, Stephen O'Connell

Costume                                                                         Toni Bailey

Lighting Design                                                             Hanan Sheedy

Producer                                                                        Kristyn Fontanella | Little Fountain Productions with Laura Murphy Dance

Associate Producer                                                     Once Off Productions

Funded by The Arts Council |An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

Created in association with Dance Ireland, Dance Cork Firkin Crane, Galway Dance, Mermaid Arts Centre, Coiscéim Dance Theatre, Dance Limerick, Joan Davis |Gorse Hill and Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre.

Special thanks to all the artists, friends and my family for their time and commitment to this project @murphylauraireland