Irish Arts Center presents 

Jean Butler
What We Hold

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

FEBRUARY 14–MARCH 3 2024

AN OUR STEPS AND LOVANO PRODUCTION

Run time: 60 minutes. No intermission.

Please note: This is a promenade dance piece. The audience is required to stand at times and move through different spaces/seating arrangements.

Funded by the Arts Council of Ireland. Jean Butler researched, developed and honed What We Hold with financial, administrative and residency support from the Dance in Process Residency at Gibney, New York. Further financial and resource support gratefully received from Irish Arts Center, Dance Cork Firkin Crane, and Aer Lingus. 

Special thanks to the generous support of Joe and Mary Lou Quinlan, Jay Johnson and Tom Cashin, Vaughn Williams, Don Gogel and Georgia Wall and Seven Taub for Morgan Stanley. 

Oral History interview material appears courtesy of Our Steps and the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library. Interviewees include: Tessie Burke, Vivienne Pentony Bergin, Jean Butler, Tom Cashin, Stephen Gallagher, Donny Golden, Brigid Grant, Father Michael Johnston, Kathleen McLoughlin, Lillian O’More, Richard Griffin, Mona Roddy, Jimmy Smith and Marion Turley. 

Kilkenny Races, performed by Tom Cashin, was choreographed in 1969 by New York-based Irish dance teacher James Erwin (RIP). The tune is played by Billy Furlong. 

What We Hold premiered at City Assembly House, Dublin Theatre Festival, October 2022. 

Presented with generous support from Culture Ireland, the National Endowment of the Arts, the Arnhold Foundation, and Denise and Bill Whelan.

'What We Hold' in the New York Times

A Note from the Creator

In 2018 I started Our Steps, Our Story: An Irish Dance Legacy Archive, in partnership with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library, the largest and most prestigious dance archive in the world. Up until then, there was negligible video and audio resources on the variety of steps, teaching methods, and personal histories of those who dedicated their lives to Irish dance. To date Our Steps has created over 200 hours of never before documented materials that fall under the auspices of An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha, the oldest governing body of Irish dance in the world, founded in the late 1920s. The work of Our Steps and this ever-expanding archive is critical and urgent—as the most vulnerable members of the global Irish dance community pass, so too do the steps and stories which are held only in the body and minds of those who embodied them. 

Throughout the pandemic, I was lucky enough to continue Our Steps’ Oral History Collection via Zoom. I interviewed teachers and adjudicators, formal champions and eminent style influencers from all over the world; many of whom I have known through my competitive years and yet never had the opportunity to speak to about their memories and experiences. With each conversation, my desire to unearth all the complex layers of meaning involved in being an Irish dancer and the fundamental truths that connect us to all other dancers became stronger and stronger. These questions along with the mind-bending sense of time during the pandemic, gave birth to my ambitions for What We Hold. I knew I wanted to work with traditional dancers again, it had been so long. 

For me, the piece can read to be about many things: how we hold the body, the verticality of an erect spine, the arms held at one’s side, feet turned out, knees crossed, hands cuffed, thumbs facing front. But there is also the sense of the body as a vessel, a container that holds imprints of the past, of a dance tradition formed by the complex pairing of oppression and defiance in the Ireland of the late 1920s, passed on by our teachers, passed on by their teachers, and the dance masters before them. For the diaspora, this holding involves hope: to remain Irish and have their cultural history move kinetically through their sons and daughters. 

As the author of the work and as an Irish dancer working within a contemporary dance context, the piece is equally about what we don’t hold, when we drop the weight of it all, the history and the fear, and just fly. 

—Jean Butler

Who's Who

Jean Butler ‍(creator, choreographer, director, performer) is a leading figure in the world of contemporary Irish dance performance. Her most recent production, a site-specific promenade piece entitled What We Hold premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in October 2022 to critical acclaim. Past works have been supported and presented by the Arts Council (Ireland), Abbey Theatre (Dublin), Baryshnikov Arts Center (NY), Danspace Project (NY), Dublin Dance Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Irish Arts Center (NY), Jacobs Pillow (MA), The Joyce (NY), Kennedy Center (D.C.), Project Arts Centre (Dublin), and Seamus Heaney Homeplace (Northern Ireland). 

In 2018 Butler founded Our Steps, a not-for-profit organization committed to expanding the way we think about history, practice, and performance of Irish dance. Partnering with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library, Our Steps initiated the first living Irish dance archive, entitled Our Steps, Our Story: An Irish Dance Legacy Archive. To date, this ever-expanding archive has created over 200 hours of video and audio resource materials never previously documented. 

Butler has taught at Princeton University, University College Dublin, University of Notre Dame Global Center, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, and Glucksman Ireland House, NYU. She choreographed and starred in the original Irish dance productions, Riverdance and Dancing on Dangerous Ground and is the recipient of many prestigious awards and honors.

Marion Cronin (performer) is a contemporary dancer and new choreographer based in Dublin. Since graduating in 2014 from the Scottish School Of Contemporary Dance she has toured extensively across Ireland and internationally. Most recently she has worked with choreographers and companies including; Liz Roche (Dublin Dance Festival), Jean Butler (Dublin Theatre Festival), Lucia Kickham (Schwere Reiter, Munich), Laura Murphy (Fira Tárrega), Philip Connaughton (Carlow Arts Festival), Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín (Cork Midsummer Festival), and Theatre Lovett.

Alongside her performance career, she has begun to develop a strong, choreographic practice. Her work is guided by her experience as a performer and her interest in creating highly physical and cathartic dance work. She is drawn to making art that is grounded in personal experiences and reflects the world around us. Some of her most recent pieces include Rope (2023) a duet with dance artist Sarah Ryan, shared at Dance Limerick; Shapes of Grief (2022), a collaboration with musician Branwen Kavanagh, performed at the Whales Theatre in Greystones; Shawbrook Music and Dance (2021), a residency at Shawbrook Dance in collaboration with Sarah Ryan and musicians Sistir; and Mary-Land (2020), a dance film made in collaboration with writer/artist Rachel Burke and D.O.P Steve O'Connor, broadcasted on St Patrick’s Festival TV.

Katie Davenport (set designer) is an award-winning set and costume designer based in Dublin. She has won Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for costume design in both 2021 and 2022. 

Her original design for Jean Butler’s What We Hold premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2022. She has designed for many contemporary choreographers including Yes and Yes and Dēmos for Liz Roche Dance Company; Dolorosa, Night Dances, Dark Days Need Ceremony, King|Shrine, and I am Ireland for United Fall; Ritual/Powerful Trouble for Junk Ensemble; and The Piece with the Drums for CoisCéim. 

Her many opera and theatre credits include Maria Stuarda, The Tales of Hoffmann, Griselda, 20 Shots of Opera, and The Magic Flute for Irish National Opera; Tartuffe and The Fall of the Second Republic for the Abbey Theatre; and Peter Pan, Endgame, and The Visiting Hour for the Gate Theatre. 

Katie is vice chair of the Irish Society of Stage and Screen Designers. She was designer in residence at the Gate Theatre Dublin in 2017. She represented Ireland in Beijing NCPA at Evolving Design for Performance in 2016 and again at the Prague Quadrennial 2019.

Stephen Dodd (lighting designer) is a lighting designer for theatre, dance, and opera. Based between Dublin and Cork, he trained at the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College. He recently won Best Lighting at the 2022 Irish Times Theatre Awards for Volcano, choreographed by Luke Murphy for Attic Projects. Previous designs for Jean Butler include What We Hold, produced by Lovano for the Dublin Theatre Festival 2022.

Colin Dunne (performer) is a leading figure in the world of traditional Irish dance. He collaborates across dance, music and theatre performance platforms in Ireland and internationally. 

His first solo show Out of Time (2008), was nominated for a 2010 Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in dance, and toured internationally until 2016 including performances at Biennale de Lyon, Barbican, London and Baryshnikov Arts Center, NY. His most recent solo show, CONCERT, based on the music of Irish fiddle player Tommie Potts, received the 2018 TG4 Gradam Ceoil Award for Music Collaboration in 2018, and a Bessie Award nomination in 2020. 

Other notable collaborations include Session (2019) with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Whitby (2017) with Joan Sheehy, Edges of Light (2016 commissioned by Music Network), 20 Dancers for the XX Century (2015, Boris Charmatz, at the Tate Museum London), The Turn (2013), composed by Linda Buckley, and The Bull (2005), by Michael Keegan Dolan. 

As movement director, his work includes In The Middle of the Fields by Mary Lavin (2021), directed by Joan Sheehy; The Risen People (Abbey Theatre, 2013), directed by Jimmy Fay; and Christ Deliver Us (Abbey Theatre, 2010), directed by Wayne Jordan.

Kristyn Fontanella (performer) focuses her past knowledge of Irish step dancing and presents it in a contemporary context. Having toured for many years with Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, and as lead soloist in Gaelforce Dance, her current mission is to show another side of the complex world of Irish step dancing to future generations. 

Kristyn's duet with Sibéal Davitt, As We Know It, was an early success, showing in DRFI in NYC, Dublin Dance Festival, Echo Echo Dance Platform, Marseille New Danse Festival, and Tanzmesse Germany. Her large ensemble work, IN LiMBO, completed a seven-venue Irish national tour in February 2020, and has future international touring opportunities. The Competition, a comedic interactive dance performance, premiered in 2021 to great success online and will continue to be performed as a hybrid format. All of Kristyn’s work has been supported through various grants from the Irish Arts Council. 

Kristyn’s creative focus now is on a new outdoor solo work tracing her dance/family tree, with support from Town Hall Theatre Patrons Donation Award, Galway International Arts Festival Elevate bursary, and a bursary award from the Irish Arts Council. 

Kristyn resides in Co. Galway where she has recently been appointed executive director of Galway Dance.

Levi Gonzalez (performance and rehearsal consultant) is a dance artist originally from Los Angeles, who was based in New York City from 1998–2016. He collaborates regularly with luciana achugar, and has performed extensively with Donna Uchizono Company, John Jasperse Company, Juliette Mapp, ChameckiLerner, Daria Faïn, and Michael Laub's Remote Control Productions in Europe, among others. He was a founding editor of Critical Correspondence, an online publication of Movement Research, and served as their director of artist programs from 2012–2016. His choreographic work has been commissioned and presented extensively in New York City as well as nationally and internationally. He has participated in multiple artistic exchange projects in Eastern Europe, engaging with artists, writers, scholars, and arts advocates throughout the region. He received his MFA from UCLA in June of 2019, and joined the faculty of Bennington College in fall 2020.

James Greenan (performer), originally from Co. Cavan, is a passionate Irish dancer and sports massage therapist. As a child, James discovered his love for the art of Irish dance in Dundalk where he was taught by the acclaimed Mona Rodaigh. He was fortunate enough to enjoy a successful competitive career having won every major title included the coveted World Championships. This sparked James' love for the stage and steered his progression as a dancer into the professional arena. 

James spent his professional career expanding his artistry by working on various productions and alongside admired choreographers. The most prestigious of these being Riverdance, where he danced as the principal dancer for 12 years in venues such as Radio City Music Hall, New York, and the 3 Arena, Dublin. Others include Heartbeat of Home (West End), Eiru dance company (with Breandan de Gallai), and Prodijig's Footstorm (with Alan Kenefic). 

In recent years, James has explored his own creative ideologies through various platforms. These include Celtic Gold in 2019, which he choreographed and directed; his own corporate dance company KLIX; and Rhythm of the Dance, which he currently choreographs and directs. In addition to dance, James’ passion for movement has expanded into other disciplines as he is also a fully qualified and experienced sports and 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.

Harriet Jung and Reid Bartelme (costume designers) met in 2009 while pursuing fashion design degrees at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. They started designing collaboratively in 2011 and have focused their practice primarily on costuming dance. They frequently design costumes for works by Pam Tanowitz, Kyle Abraham, and Justin Peck. They have devised costume-centric performances for commissions from the Museum of Art and Design and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. In 2023 they made their Broadway design debut with Bob Fosse’s Dancin'. 

Reid and Harriet have completed research fellowships at NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. 

They continue designing costumes and sets for dance productions around the world while expanding the scope of their practice outside the theater.

Lovano (producer) is the producing entity for Pádraig Heneghan, one of Ireland’s most experienced producers in the performing arts. 

Since 2012, he has worked with some of Ireland’s leading independent artists in creating new work. He is currently working with Jean Butler and Shane O’Reilly and previously with Emma Martin/United Fall and Michael Keegan-Dolan. He general managed projects for Riverdream Productions (Heartbeat of Home—its world premiere and international touring, 2013–2019) and large-scale projects for Tyrone Productions in Croke Park. 

In 2022, Lovano co-produced Walking with Ghosts, written by and starring Gabriel Byrne, with Landmark Productions, in Dublin, Wexford, and on Broadway. Other work with Landmark includes Backwards up a Rainbow (Rosaleen Linehan and Conor Linehan, 2021) and the three summer seasons of a new production of Once at the Olympia Theatre (2015–2017). 

Previously, he was deputy director at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, and oversaw its touring to leading international festivals (Edinburgh, London, Sydney, and New York) and transfers of its work to the West End and Broadway

Laura Murphy (associate director) is an award-winning choreographer, performer, and teacher based in Ireland. Taking an expansive approach to dance, her work also includes theatre, film, video installations, and site-specific performances. 

Laura Murphy Dance has been presented at Fira Tàrrega (ES), Edinburgh Fringe (UK), Judson Church (US), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (RO), Dublin Dance Festival, Cork Midsummer Festival (IRL), and most recently at Tanzmesse (DE, 2022). 

As a teacher, Laura was the acting director of the MA contemporary dance performance at the University of Limerick (2015) and currently teaches on the BA drama and theatre studies in Trinity College, Dublin. 

Laura regularly collaborates and performs in work by renowned choreographer/dancer Joan Davis (2021–present). 

Laura has been a recipient of numerous National Arts Council awards and several prestigious national and international residencies. She was awarded Best Movement Director at the 2017 Irish Times Theatre Awards for Joan Sheehy's Whitby, featuring Colin Dunne. As associate director, What We Hold is her first collaboration with Jean Butler.

Our Steps (producer) is a not-for-profit organization that celebrates Ireland’s traditional dance and the stories of its people through a range of innovative archival, performance and multidisciplinary projects. Founded in 2018 by renowned dancer, choreographer, and scholar Jean Butler, Our Steps seeks to expand the way we think about the history, practice and performance of Irish step dance: to reclaim its past and inspire it future. Our Steps is named for and founded on a spirit of inclusivity, recognizing the diversity of the global Irish dance community in and beyond the Irish diaspora. Through this shared history, Our Steps builds connections and collaborations across cultures, nationalities, and disciplines. Our Steps’ inaugural project initiated the first ever living video of traditional Irish dance in partnership with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library of Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. To date, the archive has accumulated over 200 hours of previously undocumented video and audio material. Our yearly programing includes ongoing archival documentation, commissioned essays and large-scale multidisciplinary performance projects. Prominent Board members include Tom Cashin, Noreen Denihan, Allen Greenberg, William Lynch, and Vaughn Williams.

Kaitlyn Sardin (performer) is an Irish dancer with a twist. Since 2015, she has been curating a unique fusion of Irish dancing with hip hop, jazz, and dancehall. Since her start as a competitive dancer, Kaitlyn has championed numerous international dance competitions. She continues to push boundaries and inspire others across the world as one of the few black women in the Irish dancing community. From dancing in Ireland to performing in LA, Kaitlyn has always been one to dance no matter where.

Ryan Seaton (composer, sound design) is a Bessie-nominated, New York-based composer and multi-instrumentalist. Seaton has created compositions for many acclaimed recording and performing artists, including Joanna Kotze, Lingua Ignota, Jean Butler, Grey Reverend, Zsuzsa Rozsavolgyi, Lance Gries, Liz Gerring, Dark Sky, Ictus, Beth Gill, Vision Control, Rachel Comey, and Mara Hoffman. His work has been featured at BAM, New York Live Arts, Dublin Theater Festival, Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Kitchen, and Danspace, among many other venues. Seaton also composes for film, podcasts and TV.

Maren Shanks (performer) is a 15 year old Irish dancer from Dublin. She has been dancing for 10 years, competing in feiseanna across Ireland and performing at charity events. She made her professional debut in the premiere run of What We Hold as part of the 2022 Dublin Theatre Festival.

About Irish Arts Center

Irish Arts Center, founded in 1972 and based in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, is a home for artists and audiences of all backgrounds who share a passion or appreciation for the evolving arts and culture of contemporary Ireland and Irish America. We present, develop, and celebrate work from established and emerging artists and cultural practitioners, providing audiences with emotionally and intellectually engaging experiences in an environment of Irish hospitality. Steeped in grassroots traditions, we also provide community education programs and access to the arts for people of all ages and ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds. In a historic partnership of the people of Ireland and New York, Irish Arts Center recently completed construction on a fully-funded $60MM state-of-the-art new facility to support this mission for the 21st century.

Acknowledgements

For supporting this restaging of What We Hold for New York, special thanks to:

Joe and Mary Lou Quinlan, Jay Johnson and Tom Cashin, Vaughn Williams, Don Gogel and Georgia Wall, and Steven Taub for Morgan Stanley. 

To Aidan Connolly, Pauline Turley, Rachael Gilkey, Mac Smith, Vivian Fong, Grace Schultz, Kestrel Wolgemuth, Manuel DaSilva, Saúl Ulerio and the incredible team of Irish Arts Center. 

To the Board of Our Steps: Tom Cashin, Noreen Denihan, Allen Greenberg, Bill Lynch and Vaughn Williams; to Culture Ireland and the Arts Council of Ireland; to Bill and Denise Whelan; to Amy Casselo, Alexander Biss, Willie White and Dublin Theatre Festival; Gina Gibney and Gibney Dance; Laurie Uprichard and Dance Cork Firkin Crane; Linda Murray, Daisy Pommer, and the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library: to Megan McDermott, Emma Brown, Patrick Cashin, Andrew Cashin, and Billy Furlong. 

And to the team: Ryan, Katie, Stephen, Reid, Harriet, Laura, Levi, Tom, Colin, Marion, Kristyn, James, Kaitlyn, Maren (and Lisa!), Pádraig (massive thanks), Pete, Ois, Fionn, and Jack (for Dublin 2022); to Donny Golden, my dancing teacher; to my friends and family on both sides of the Atlantic, and to Cuan.

Irish Arts Center Staff

STAFF 

Adam Browne (Development Associate)
Elise Bargman (Ticketing and Marketing Data Manager)
Zohra Coday (Programming and Education Assistant)
Aidan Connolly (Executive Director)
Christine Cullen (Director of Administrative Operations)
Manuel Da Silva (Production Manager and Lighting Supervisor)
Shannon Ducey (Administrative Manager)
Chloe Eisen (Development Associate)
Fiona Farrell (Communications and Marketing Associate)
Vivian Fong (Director of Communications and Marketing)
Laney Granito (Special Events Coordinator)
Rachael W. Gilkey (Director of Programming and Education)
Jon Harper (Chief Operating Officer)
Anah Klate (Audience Services Manager)
Barry Ó Séanáin (Director of Development)
Ciara O'Shea (Communications and Marketing Associate)
Emma Reifschneider (Executive Assistant)
Jessie Reilly (Director of Education, Family and Community Programming)
Grace Schultz (Artist Services Manager / Resident Stage Manager)
Teresa Shyr (Development Associate)
Mac Smith (Director of Production)
Pauline Turley (Vice Chair)
Saúl Ulerio (Stage Supervisor)
Dennis Walls (Director of Facility Operations)
Kestrel Wolgemuth (Associate Director of Programming)

Tehmina Anjum (Senior Accountant, NCheng LLP)
Desaann Legzim (Senior Accountant, NCheng LLP)
Wenbin Nie (Supervising Senior, NCheng LLP)
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Faizan Younus (Principal, NCheng LLP)

Blake Zidell (Public Relations Consultant, Blake Zidell & Associates) 
Pat Morin (Graphic Designer)
Taylor Panetti (Graphic Designer)

Gráinne D’Alton (Special Events and Programming Intern) 
Ryan Henry (Programming Intern)
Emily Mayo (Communications & Marketing Intern)
Summer McCroskey (Development Research Intern)
Matt Storti (Programming Intern)

FRONT OF HOUSE