Michael Seaver

Jul 29, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Michael Seaver

Anything to DeclareSwanlinbar, Co Cavan★★★★☆Approaching Swanlinbar, in Co Cavan, from the North, drivers have recently passed a large red neon sign in a field, just as they have crossed the Border, stating Anything to Declare. It is part of an impressive multifaceted arts project by Dylan Quinn Dance Theatre, from Enniskillen, that offers no fixed viewpoint but presents four different artistic impressions of the Border.

Jun 17, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Michael Seaver

In Irish, a ciseach is a path created by past footsteps or a causeway made of wattled sticks. The word also means “a mess”. As a description for Catherine Young’s latest dance, about our loss of connection to the land, the double meaning is apt. Ciseach: An Embodied Manifesto will show both how Earth is a mess and how, by following the paths of our ancestors, we can repair that relationship between ourselves and the land. Ciseach’s double meaning certainly doesn’t apply to Young’s artistic career.

May 20, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Michael Seaver

Now in its 20th iteration, Dublin Dance Festival has seen fewer changes than Ireland has in the past 24 years. Artistic direction has been passed along four times without any lurching change of aesthetic or format. Unsuppressable personal preferences pushed incremental changes in programming, but artistic directors have always kept a close eye on Irish societal changes, in and out of the Celtic Tiger, during austerity and lockdown.

May 14, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Michael Seaver

Some acts of creativity are solitary, others communal. The lonely playwright might peck out words on a keyboard, slowly transferring scenes from head to screen, but for the choreographer live bodies are the tools of the trade. After that first step into the dance studio, human interaction and a commitment to collaboration are essential for the act of creation.

Mar 16, 2024 | irishtimes.com | Michael Seaver

Titles are often the last consideration for artists, a hurried decision demanded by the publicity team when the “working title” doesn’t quite work any more. In Palimpsest, David Bolger’s latest creation, the title isn’t just a label describing the contents but goes to the marrow of what the choreographer has created and how he has created it. In a general sense a palimpsest is an object that has been reused for another purpose, like a manuscript that is washed clean and new words written over.