The Creative Process

Jessie Keenan interview, extract 1

Jessie Keenan talks about the origins and development of her dance film ‘So what is surfacing’.

So what is surfacing

This film, directed by Jessie Keenan, is set in the stunning surrounds of the Museum of Literature Ireland. Three dancers - Lucia Kickham, Marion Cronin, and Sarah Ryan - move between their individual interior world and their collective exterior world.

The Creative Process

Dance House, 13 August 2020

This is a recording of dancers Marion Cronin, Lucia Kickham, and Sarah Ryan performing the second part of a dance phrase taught to them by Jessie Keenan.

The Creative Process

Dance House, 11 August 2020

In this recording, Jessie Keenan teaches dancers Marion Cronin, Lucia Kickham, and Sarah Ryan the first part of a dance phrase. This phrase was taken from footage of Jessie rehearsing a live dance improvisation to audio she recorded in response to the question ‘So what is surfacing?’, adapted from a phrase written by Brian Friel during the composition process for Dancing at Lughnasa (1990).

Video

The body and the archive

Friel scholar Zosia Kuczyńska explores some of performance scholar Diana Taylor’s ideas around the body and the archive and their relevance to the project.