In the fine tradition of On Record, we finish with a story about a dog. Catherine Young, co-curator of What Next, has a mixed collie/German shepherd dog, called Yogi Bear – named so because as a puppy he was fluffy as a little bear, and Catherine does a lot of yoga. “He’s also very grounded and calm,” Catherine assures me. “So that’s a kind of yogi thing.” It all makes sense, see?
Yogi Bear often accompanies Catherine and her partner (a musician) to events and workshops. “He knows now that if he barks, he’s out, so he’s learned to just sit there and observe,” she says. “And to love music.” As for dance, Yogi Bear has attended quite a few shows, sharings and workshops, but his real superpower is as a connector. Catherine gives me a memorable example. “I run a project working with asylum seekers and refugees, and a couple of years ago we had an event with the Ukrainian community. When we brought Yogi Bear, the whole of the first half was taken up with everybody just needing to pet him and touch him. So many of them had had to leave their own pets behind, so it really meant a lot to them. We ended up bringing him every week.”
She gives an added insight: “The connection with Yogi Bear is kind of like dance itself. It’s physical, and non-verbal, and animate. People really love having him in the space.”
In fact Catherine has another dog, called Nala, who is by all accounts not very yogic. “She’s bonkers,” says Catherine, more plainly. She does not come to Dance Limerick.
Still, Yogi Bear is not the only animal connected to this place. There’s also a chicken called John who lives in the graveyard of the converted church that Dance Limerick inhabits. “He arrived in April 2025, out of the blue,” says production assistant Liz O’Connell. Communications manager Leonor Miralles fills in the details. “We noticed this great commotion in the square outside, and there was this poor chicken running around and jumping through the traffic, clearly very scared.” Leonor’s mother, who just happened to be visiting, had grown up on a farm, and declared: “I can catch a chicken!” Not John though. He escaped her grasp and everyone else’s, leaving her with a few feathers and an audience of curious bystanders.
All’s well that ends well, though. John found a safe haven in the graveyard of the square’s church, and he’s been living there ever since, a low-key presence next to Dance Limerick. “We did wonder about doing some Dance Limerick John the Chicken merch,” says Leonor, “like a special t-shirt or something. But it’s not happened yet.”
How come he’s called John, though? Is he a saint, some kind of disciple of Dance? “He’s named after John’s Square,” Liz explains patiently, “which is literally the address of Dance Limerick.” It all makes sense, see?
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Morocco (Baltic Dance Platform 2024)
