Located on the periphery of Europe, Ireland’s contemporary dance ecosystem is relatively small in scale, characterised by close-knit networks, artist-led initiatives and an outward-looking international orientation. At the centre of this landscape is a community of independent choreographers and performers who mostly operate on a project-by-project basis, unlike countries with large repertory companies.
Nevertheless, Irish choreographers have had a disproportionately large impact on the global dance scene in recent years, with their work being programmed in venues and festivals all over the world. No doubt, choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan’s international success in the early 2000s inspired Irish dance artists to believe in and develop their own movement language, and gave them the impetus to dream big. In the last 10 years, artists like Oona Doherty (from Belfast) and Luke Murphy (based in Cork) have been touring internationally with singular works that are, nonetheless, quintessentially Irish. As aficionados of Aerowaves will know, Doherty was a selected Aerowaves artist in 2017 with Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus. Murphy participated in the Aerowaves Startup Forum in 2023, the same year Emma Martin was selected with Bird Boy, followed by Junk Ensemble’s Dances Like a Bomb in 2025. This year, 2026, is the turn of the promising Mufutau Yusuf with Proses on neither here nor there.
Such a crop of talent prompted the establishment in 2024 of Luail, Ireland’s first national, all-island dance company with the goal of leading and transforming how dance is experienced in Ireland, (rather like the Irish National Opera company succeeded in doing after its foundation in 2018). Distinctively, Luail is an all-Ireland company, meaning that its remit includes Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and one if its main partners is Belfast-based Maiden Voyage Dance.
The scene seems to be set for a revitalised dance landscape with more opportunities, support and visibility for aspiring dance artists and choreographers.
Mapping the landscape
When people think of Ireland they don’t always realise that it is one island but two distinct political entities: Northern Ireland has a devolved government within the United Kingdom, whereas the Republic of Ireland functions as an independent sovereign parliamentary constitutional republic. Arts funding in Ireland and Northern Ireland is therefore managed by their respective Arts Councils. This article refers to the Arts Council of Ireland and the dance landscape in the Republic.
The following is a list of the main organisations, companies and festivals that populate the dance landscape in Ireland.
Organisations
Dance Ireland. Ireland’s national dance development organisation and the representative body for the professional dance community in Ireland. www.danceireland.ie
Dance Limerick. Dedicated dance venue with performances, residencies, workshops, outreach, classes. dancelimerick.ie
Dance Cork Firkin Crane. Dedicated dance venue with performances, residencies, professional workshops and classes. dancecorkfirkincrane.ie
Tipperary Dance. An artist-led organisation in rural Ireland that supports artists and offers creative dance opportunities for artists and communities, locally and internationally. tipperarydance.com
Galway Dance. An artist-led organisation that aims to provide high quality dance classes and workshops, as well as choreographic and performance opportunities, for dancers in Galway city and county. galwaydance.ie
Dance Companies
Irish Modern Dance Theatre (est. 1991). Dublin-based IMDT produces original work by dancer and choreographer John Scott and international guest choreographers, creating distinctive work with diverse casts, mixing Irish and international dancers with African and Middle Eastern refugees and torture survivors. Also runs Dancer from the Dance Festival of Irish Choreography. www.irishmoderndancetheatre.com
CoisCéim Dance Theatre (est. 1995). Dancer and choreographer David Bolger creates original work and the company supports the dance sector with studio space and professional opportunities, and through the BROADREACH programme. www.coisceim.com
Junk Ensemble (est. 2004). Contemporary dance-theatre company founded by twins Jessica and Megan Kennedy. Junk Ensemble frequently collaborates with artists from other disciplines to produce a rich mix of visual and performing styles. www.junkensemble.com
Croí Glan Integrated Dance (est. 2006). Co-founded by Tara Brandel, Croí Glan is a Cork-based company specialising in professional performance by dancers with and without disabilities. www.croiglan.com
Catherine Young Dance (est. 2014). Catherine Young Dance holds a deep commitment to building community, to social justice and to working through dance to communicate vital stories and ideas, especially from those on the margins. www.catherineyoungdance.com
Company Philip Connaughton (est. 2014). Dancer and choreographer Connaughton develops a diverse range of projects and collaborations that reflect his evolving artistic vision. www.philipconnaughton.com
Attic Projects (est. 2015). Founded by Cork-based choreographer and performer Luke Murphy, Attic Projects works across the platforms of dance, theatre, film and installation as producer, incubator and facilitator of projects. www.atticprojects.com
United Fall (est. 2015). Choreographer and dancer Emma Martin established Carlow-based United Fall to create multidisciplinary work that has spilled into film, installation, opera and theatre. www.unitedfall.com
Teaċ Daṁsa (est. 2016). Michael Keegan-Dolan’s second dance-theatre company Teaċ Daṁsa is located on the cliffs of West Kerry. Keegan-Dolan originally rose to international acclaim with Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre (1997–2015). Teaċ Daṁsa has built a reputation for powerful and intimate performances that resonate globally. teacdamsa.com
Flora Fauna Project (est. 2017). A multi-disciplinary dance company based in Wicklow, run by Swedish choreographer Maria Nilsson Waller and Irish inter-disciplinary artist Stace Gill, making work for stage, film and installation. www.florafaunaproject.com
Luail (est. 2024). Ireland’s national, all-island dance company has a full-time ensemble of eight dancers and a collective of resident creative artists. Partners are Irish World Academy (University of Limerick) and Maiden Voyage Dance (Belfast). luail.ie
Note also that there are multiple independent artists and choreographers making new and ambitious work in Ireland. They are mainly funded through the Arts Council’s Project Award, which grants up to €100,000 to each successful applicant. This is a highly competitive award and the number of applications goes up every year, on a scale not matched by government funding.
Festivals
Dublin Dance Festival (est. 2002). Ireland’s biggest dance festival, DDF plays a crucial role in showcasing both Irish and international contemporary dance, offering visibility, critical context and opportunities for exchange. www.dublindancefestival.ie
Tipperary Dance Festival (est. 2010). Presents national and international performances, installations, masterclasses, workshops, screendance, professional roundtables and exhibitions in rural locations throughout County Tipperary. tipperarydance.com
Leitrim Dance Festival (est. 2015). Primarily focused on traditional Irish dance, the festival also offers contemporary dance performances, particularly through collaborations that explore new interpretations of traditional dance, in Carrick-on-Shannon in County Leitrim. www.leitrimdanceproject.com
What Next Dance Festival (est. 2018). Run by Dance Limerick, presents performances by artists from Ireland and Europe, artist talks, workshops, classes – you can find out more about What Next 2026 in the rest of this On Record album. dancelimerick.ie/what-next
Uillinn Dance Season (est. 2018). Live performances, film screenings and discussions in a unique location in Skibbereen, County Cork. westcorkartscentre.com/event/uillinn-dance-season-2026-spring
SpringMoves Dance Festival (est. 2019). Live performances, talks, masterclasses and workshops in Wexford town. springmoves.ie
Dancer from the Dance Festival of Irish Choreography (est. 2020). Performances, screenings, professional workshops and masterclasses, events. www.irishmoderndancetheatre.com/dancer-from-the-dance-2025
Take Off Dance Festival (est. 2023). Organised by Dance Cork Firkin Crane, offers performances by artists from Ireland and Europe, professional classes and roundtable discussion. dancecorkfirkincrane.ie/take-off-festival
Building on this momentum, significant national arts festivals are beginning to include more and more contemporary dance in their programmes. These include: Dublin Theatre Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival, Galway International Arts Festival, Cork Midsummer Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Carlow Arts Festival, Clonmel Junction Arts Festival, Cairde Sligo Arts Festival and Earagail Arts Festival.
Dance festivals are growing in size and reputation in acknowledgement of the growing interest in contemporary dance in Ireland. This wider dissemination of the artform is crucial to its imprint on the public imagination and therefore its resilience.
Behind the scenery
Despite the increasing recognition of the quality and originality of contemporary dance in Ireland, the sector faces structural challenges that shape how work is created, remunerated and disseminated.
Funding. Public funding, primarily through the Arts Council of Ireland, underpins much of the activity. While this support has enabled sustained artistic development and international recognition, demand consistently and increasingly outstrips resources. The funding model also favours productivity over process, forcing artists to produce new pieces year after year to sustain themselves.
Audience. Ireland’s funding structures emphasise audience engagement, but limited marketing budgets, short presentation runs and a lack of consistent critical discourse result in limited engagement with the artform. Venues are also hesitant to programme contemporary dance, preferring instead reliable audience favourites like theatre, music or comedy. Without deeper audience relationships, contemporary dance remains vulnerable in funding and policy debates. The new dance company Luail is aiming to turn this around by touring to all corners of the country but without parallel financial support for venues and a bold national communications campaign, contemporary dance risks remaining a niche endeavour.
Training. Third level contemporary dance training became available in 1994 with the foundation of the Irish World Academy of Music & Dance at the University of Limerick. Class sizes are small with 15-25 students in the BA programme and 8-15 in the MA programme. Colleges like Inchicore College (Dublin), Bray Institute of Further Education (Wicklow) and Belfast Metropolitan College also offer training courses in dance.
Because of the limited pathways offered to young dancers, international mobility is a defining feature. Many Irish artists train abroad, maintain cross-border collaborations, or base all or portions of their careers in other European countries. This has enriched the sector artistically, bringing global influences into dialogue with local concerns, but it also reflects limited domestic opportunities and effectively results in talent drain.
Institutional precarity. There is a risk of over-reliance on a small number of institutions and individuals. While Dance Ireland acts as a vital hub, its remit is limited by funding precarity and finite studio space. A chronic lack of affordable studios and adequate venues nationwide puts additional pressure on artists. Dance production and presentation in Ireland are supported by a small number of producing entities and venues. Although their hearts are in the right place, most of them are not sufficiently funded, hence the absence of large ensemble works and the proliferation of duets and trios.
When key organisations are overstretched or under-resourced, the entire ecosystem becomes vulnerable. Without diversified support structures and shared responsibility, progress remains fragile.
These challenges do not point to a lack of artistic capacity, but to a need for greater investment across the sector, longer-term thinking and systemic care.
From Ireland to the world
For programmers and producers, Ireland offers a vibrant pool of artistic voices working across a wide range of forms and ideas. Despite the structural challenges, the sector continues to grow and evolve, producing distinctive voices through collective support, international exchange and a strong commitment to artistic integrity and innovation.
The organisations, companies and festivals operating in Ireland strive to provide the conditions to ensure that the dance community feels cherished in a challenging climate. They give artists a supportive environment in which to practice and perform their work while participating in workshops and discussions with their peers. Without them, the competitive nature of funding applications, the lack of suitable studios and venues, and the scarcity of performance opportunities would make for a bleak landscape. Together, they motivate artists to experiment, innovate and build new connections to bring Irish choreography to audiences around the world.
