Skip to main content

Revisiting Lunar Parables: Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre and the Intangible Archive

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Dance Matters in Ireland
  • 168 Accesses

Abstract

In this chapter, Meehan reflects on a practice as research project revisiting the archives of Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre (DCDT), the first state-funded contemporary dance company in Ireland that ran from 1979–1989. Despite the important role that DCDT played in developing contemporary dance in an Irish context, very little has been researched or written about their work to date. One key aim of this project is to examine the knowledge revealed by revisiting DCDT’s archival materials through practice, focusing on the choreography Lunar Parables (1983). It considers what the ‘embodied archive’ of the performers can uncover about the company’s work, and what this reflects about Irish contemporary dance history and culture.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Blades, Hetty. 2016. Scoring Dance: The Ontological Implications of “Choreographic Objects”. PhD thesis, Coventry University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryan-Wilson, Julia. 2012. “Practicing Trio A.” OCTOBER 140, Spring: 54–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connor, Robert. 2014. Group Discussion, Dance Theatre of Ireland Studio, Dublin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Joan. 2014a. Group Discussion, Dance Theatre of Ireland Studio, Dun Laoghaire, December.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Joan. 2014b. Journal notes, October.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eddy, Martha. 2015. Early Trends: Where Soma and Dance Began to Meet—Keeping the Meeting Alive. In Attending to Movement: Somatic Perspectives on Living in this World, ed. Sarah Whatley, Natalie Garrett Brown, and Kirsty Alexander. Axminister: Triarchy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzgerald, Emma. 2014. Group Discussion, Dance Theatre of Ireland Studio, Dun Laoghaire, December.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths, Laura. 2013. Between Bodies and the Archive: Situating the Act. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media 9 (1): 183–195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Amelia. 2013. Unpredictable Temporalities: The Body and Performance in (Art) History. In Performing Archives/Archives of Performance, ed. Gundhild Borggreen and Rune Gade. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kershaw, Baz. 2009. Practice-as-Research: An Introduction. In Practice-as-Research: In Performance and Screen, ed. Ludivine Allegue, Simon Jones, Baz Kershaw and Angela Piccini. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lepecki, André. 2010. The Body as Archive: Will to Re-Enact and the Afterlives of Dances. Dance Research Journal 42 (2): 28–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Louppe, Laurence. 2010. Poetics of Contemporary Dance, trans. Sally Gardner. Alton: Dance Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGrath, Aoife. 2013. Dance Theatre in Ireland: Revolutionary Moves. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Meehan, Emma. 2015. Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre: Bloomsday and Fleshing Out the Bones of Irish Cultural Heritage. In Contemporising the Past: Envisaging the Future, ed. Cheryl Stock. Canberra: World Dance Alliance. http://ausdance.org.au/articles/details/dublin-contemporary-dance-theatre.

  • Nunan, Mary. 2014a. Group Discussion, Dance Theatre of Ireland Studio, Dun Laoghaire, December.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunan, Mary. 2014b. Journal Notes/Email Correspondence, January.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, Jerry. 2014a. Group Discussion via Skype at Dance Theatre of Ireland Studio, Dun Laoghaire, December.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, Sara. 2016. Skype interview with the author, January 27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reason, Matthew. 2003. Archive or Memory? The Detritus of Live Performance. New Theatre Quarterly 19 (1): 82–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roche, Jenny. 2011. Material Traces: Reflecting on Dance Performance and the Archive. Dance Notes 2: 8–10. Dance Research Forum Ireland. http://danceresearchforumireland.org/dance-notes-2.

  • Schneider, Rebecca. 2011. Performing Remains: Art and War in Times of Theatrical Reenactment. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sennett, Graham. 1985. Magic in the Project. Evening Press, Mar 20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steedman, Carolyn. 2001. Dust. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taplin, Diana. 1984. Multi-Media Harmony. The Sunday Tribune, Dec 30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Diana. 2003. The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Whatley, Sarah. 2015. Materiality, Immateriality and the Dancing Body: The Challenge of the Inter in the Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In The Performing Subject in the Space of Technology: Through the Virtual Towards the Real, ed. Matthew Causey, Neill O’Dwyer and Emma Meehan. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yurick, Loretta. 2014. Group Discussion, Dance Theatre of Ireland Studio, Dun Laoghaire, December.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emma Meehan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Meehan, E. (2018). Revisiting Lunar Parables: Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre and the Intangible Archive. In: McGrath, A., Meehan, E. (eds) Dance Matters in Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66739-3_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics