DANCEHALL WORKSHOPS
Funded by Creative Communities, Kerry County Council. These are ongoing FREE WORKSHOPS. Please contact for further info.
Dancehalls were of huge significance throughout rural Ireland, Town lands and cities. The echoes of which still exist in the stories we are told by older generations.
My key objectives for these FREE workshops are:
1. Collect more real-life stories and experiences of the dancehall era. I believe this to be an important archival feat in Kerry as many of the stories are dying with the dancehalls. As an artist I feel it is my duty to keep these stories alive.
2. A series of community dance workshops to explore influences from Jive, ceili dances and dancing at the crossroads with a contemporary dance twist. These are fun dance workshops led by Jade O'Connor. There is no dance experience necessary and all are welcome.
3. Ask the question - if all the halls are closed, where do we go to dance?
The proposed outcomes for this project will research our dance history and dance influences in Kerry and beyond using the wonderful Kennelly, Killorglin and national folklore archives. And by reaching out to people in our communities who used to frequent dances around Kerry.
The anticipated impact with this project is to reignite a love for dance and the importance of the dance hall to the communities while paying homage to dance’s glory days. By collecting these stories we are adding much needed historical accounts to our archives here in Kerry.
I am looking for new spaces, places to inhabit. Places to bring to life or to put life back into. Dancing together and maybe even singing together? Connect / reconnect, Decode, shake the rust off and get to the heart of something.
Workshop facilitator:
As a facilitator Jade leads workshops in voice, dance, movement and physical theatre with many companies, choirs and community groups including: SUSO choir, Macushla Dance Club, Cois Céim, Direct Provision Centres throughout Ireland, Ramallah Arts Centre in Palestine, Catherine Young Dance Company, the creative schools scheme and NEWKD - dance & singing masterclasses.
Her workshops focus on the embodiment of mixed performance skills. With a focus on an intuitive voice, text and movement practice. Designed for creatives, artists and performers or to simply engage with your creativity. For more information please email: jadeoconnor85@gmail.com
She works with multidisciplinary artists, companies, individuals interested in using movement & voice in their practice or project.
Jade is also deeply interested in the body and holds ITEC & FETAC Diploma’s in Anatomy & Physiology, I.S.T.D Modern Dance & Ballet Diploma’s and is a certified Polestar & PTTI Pilates practitioner. She has been mentored by various movement experts including: Alan Herdman, Susan Church & Liz Bussey. Jade holds a BA in Performing Arts from Millennium Performing Arts, London, it was here she cut her teeth as a multidisciplinary performer studying techniques such as Ballet (Cecchetti & R.A.D), Contemporary (Martha Graham & Cunningham), Jazz - (Matt Mattox), Classical Music & Musical Theatre, Meisner & Method Acting. Jade’s earlier training began Bow Street Ballet School, London, then at the Leinster school of Music & Drama, Kerry School of Music and later The Irish Institute of Dance & Choreography at The Firkin Crane Theatre, Cork.