JACK ANDERSON grew up in Scotland, and started Irish dancing as a child in the nineties. Jack was lucky to have the exceptional Hugh and Janie McGowan as his teachers. He started dancing professionally aged seventeen, touring for several years with Rhythm of the Dance and Celtic Legends before becoming one of the first members of Ériu Dance Company. He then pursued training at Dundee College and then Rambert School. In early 2024, more than a decade after his last Irish dancing job, Jack got the hard shoes out again… this has ignited a process of listening to the different vocabularies that live in his body. Jack is excited to continue that process in Limerick, surrounded by the wisdom of other dancers whose artistic roots maybe overlap with my own.
PAUL BAILEY is an Irish multi-disciplinary practitioner based in London, exploring a practice through exhibitions, publications, performances, curation and teaching. Following many years on tour with various dance shows, including Riverdance, he has more recently engaged in collaborations with artists to explore Irish dance beyond performance and as a process of, and for, enquiry. In June, Paul will perform a series of new solo dance works as a contribution to ‘Crack Nerve Boogie Swerve: the archive’ by Alexis Blake at Wiels, Brussels (BE). Inspired by Nic Gareiss’ text ‘Light in my Loafers: Thoughts on Queer Irish Dancestry’, Paul hopes to reflect on his experiences as an Irish dancer during the development week at Dance Limerick with Colin Dunne and the other participants.
SIOBHÁN BUTLER is a traditional dancer, dance researcher, and founder of the online Irish dance education platform Bánóg.Informed by decades of field work in traditional percussive dance, Siobhan has worked with Nuala Kennedy, Nic Gareiss, Tony DeMarco, Damien Connolly, Sandy Silva, Kieran Jordan, and many more. Her creations draw from the ephemeral qualities of movement, local traditions, and nature. Since moving to Ireland from the United States in 2016, Siobhan’s primary dance influences are some of County Clare’s greatest Set dancers and their unique “battering” style. Siobhan has a BA in Anthropology from Goddard College and a MA in Ethnochoreology from UL. Coming into this program as a dance educator, primarily, she is really looking forward to having the opportunity to delve into her dancing from an artistic perspective and to start creating more performance-based work.
SEAN DOWNES is a dancer from Glasgow. He started dancing when he was 8 years old and is now 28. Sean won 7 world titles as a young dancer and has been touring professional since the age of 20. Sean has performed with shows including Rhythm of the dance and Celtic steps, taking him across the world for the last 8 years, stretching from USA, Ireland and the UK as well as Mainland Europe and Asia.
JAMES GREENAN is a passionate dancer, choreographer and massage therapist from Co. Cavan. As a child, James discovered his love for the art of Irish Dance in Dundalk where he was taught by the acclaimed Mona Rodaigh and enjoyed a successful competitive career having won every major title included the coveted World championships. He was the principal dancer with Riverdance for 12 years and later performed in other disciplines with Eiru Dance Company with Breandan De Gallai, Catherine Young Dance Co. and Jean Butler a.o. In recent years, James has eproduced his own choreographic work, including Celtic Gold (2019) and Rhythm of the Dance. In addition to dance, James is also an established qualified Myoskeletal Massage Therapist. He works primarily with dancers in helping them move pain free, recover from injury and live long, happy and healthy careers. His practice is called Corrective Manual Therapy which is based in Swords, Dublin.
CONSTANTIN KIRSTEN was born in Germany in 1990. He studied Sound for Picture at Film University Babelsberg in Potsdam and graduated with an MFA. Kirsten took his first Irish dance lesson aged 14 after watching Riverdance. He later created the performance group Erin Circle along with his parents and some time after he joined the show troupe Irish Beats Dance Company, touring Europe. Constantin choreographs and teaches Irish dance to adults at the Urban Beat Irish Dance Academy Berlin and is currently WIDA Western European and world champion. Understanding how to physically produce different rhythms and motions in Irish dance has long been a passion of his. During this time in Limerick, he hopes to find new approaches to listening to music and translating it into movement and dance, working with a diverse group of dancers in an intense week of mutual inspiration.
AUGUST KIRWIN is a queer, trans percussive dancer from amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton), Canada, currently living in west Cavan. They are trained in competitive-style Irish dancing and sean nós dancing, and pull from contemporary and north american percussive dance practices in their work as well. They dance for the sheer joy of it, for the community it creates, and for the power it has to bring about anti-colonial, liberatory political change. August is beyond excited to train with Colin Dunne, meet the cohort, and put some fresh momentum into their dance practice.
REBECCA MCGOWAN. From Boston, Rebecca performs and teaches traditional and old-style Irish dance. Drawing on the musicality of older-style step dance and the joy of social dance traditions, she is interested in exploring step dance as music and making Irish dance lyrical and approachable. She has been on the faculty of the Catskills Irish Arts Week, Pinewoods, O’Flaherty Retreat, MAD Week, and others. Together with duet partner Jackie O’Riley, they released the albums From the Floor (2019), and Eight Feet Tall (2023). As a child Rebecca began dancing with Clare Sullivan and later studied with Kieran Jordan and the Culkin School. She has been recognised by the Massachusetts Cultural Council as a 2022 Choreography Fellow (with Jackie O’Riley), Somerville Artist Fellowships, the Boston Foundation, and NEFA, and she directs a non-competitive step dancing school for adults in the Boston area. www.RebeccaMcGowanDance.com
CIARA SEXTON is a five-time World & All-Ireland Champion Irish Dancer and has spent the last fifteen years touring as a lead dancer and poster girl in Blockbuster productions such as Riverdance, Heartbeat of Home and Lord of the Dance 3D. After producing, directing & choreographing her first commercial Irish Dance show in 2017, In 2019 Ciara directed, choreographed & starred in a brand new production, Fainne Oir, which premiered in Ireland & later went to Broadway. Ciara was a lecturer in The Irish World Academy at UL. She is a qualified TCRG and teaches Irish Dance for Scoil Uí Nualláin Dance School in Limerick. Ciara is an accredited Life Coach and uses her experience to guide and advise artists and creatives as they navigate their way through the industry. In 2022 came Ciara and her husband Cian’s greatest achievement, they celebrated the birth of their son, Rí. They also welcomed two more additions to their family in Autumn 2023, Cúan and Culann, making their family complete.
ALEXANDRA WILLIAMSON Originally from New Jersey, Alexandra attended Montclair State University receiving a BFA in Dance and a minor in Musical Theatre. Alexandra creates and performs her own work in the fusion style and dances for Darrah Carr Dance, General Mischief Dance Theatre, DiMauro Dance Co., and Moe-tion Dance Theatre. She recently toured as a featured dancer with Tomáseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas. In 2021, Alexandra was awarded the Meg Hunt Artist In Residence Award at the Wrangell Mountains Center (Alaska). Alexandra has performed on the TODAY Show and Good Morning America, Jacob’s Pillow, The 92nd Street Y, Stam-pede Percussive Dance Festival, Symphony Space, Dancer from the Dance Festival in Dublin, et al. Alexandra is on faculty at Hofstra University and Montclair State University, has taught at Steps on Broadway, the School at Steps, Peridance Capezio Center, the Joffrey Ballet School, a.o.
