We celebrate a quarter-century of one of Ireland's most innovative dance companies with their founder, acclaimed choreographer John Scott.
I did not start with dance in my life.
I grew up in theatre – my father Leslie Scott was Lighting Designer at the Abbey Theatre. I saw my first dance at the age of 12 - Kurt Joos’ masterpiece The Green Table, in a guest performance at the Abbey - and it opened up new means of expression, outside text-based drama. But dancing seemed to mean starting at 6 years of age, tights and tutus - outside my 12 year old universe. I studied English and classics in UCD but became more consumed with dance.
From John Scott's Precious Metal, by Irish Modern Dance Theatre
After graduating, I was offered an apprenticeship to Dublin City Ballet as a 22-year old late starter. I survived by distributing theatre posters around Dublin to support my training. Dancers in Ireland lived in a separate world from the international dance scene. We didn’t think we could ever connect. I travelled abroad, sleeping on sofas of friends who had emigrated, taking workshops and seeing extraordinary work by genius choreographers: Pina Bausch, Meredith Monk, Trisha Brown and Merce Cunningham. None of them had ever performed in Ireland.
My Dublin training was years of classes, stretching, pain, striving, disappointment and inspiration all mixed together. The repertoire was classical ballet, contemporary works by Anna Sokolow, Anne Courtney and jazz. My dance progress as a late starter was difficult but there were breakthroughs: dancing for Anna Sokolow in Dublin and international inspiration on summer breaks: workshops in Avignon with Einstein on the Beach choreographer Andy De Groat, learning his famous ‘Fan Dance’, creating performances in Meredith Monk and Pablo Vela’s workshops. I started making short dances while in Dublin City Ballet, bribing dancers to rehearse during their lunch break in exchange for chocolate.
Contemporary dance in Ireland is still young but is starting to kick its legs high.
By 1989. Dublin City Ballet, Irish National Ballet and Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre lost their funding and closed - dance in Ireland was considered a dying art form. In my travels, I had seen dancers in other countries and believed Irish dancers could hold their own and that we had the potential to make good dance. The Irish dance community started to organise. We created the Association of professional Dancers, later becoming Dance Ireland. There was a platform, New Music/New Dance, offering the chance to create 15 minute dances in Project Arts Centre. My big break came in 1990 with my critically acclaimed Earthwalk. Joe O’Byrne of Co Motion Theatre also invited me to choreograph his play ‘The Sinking of the Titanic’.
I planned a dance company that would not only produce my own work but also be a space where International choreographers and artists would come and create work with Irish dancers, making new, wonderful things happen in Ireland. And show the inspiring power of dance. I formed Irish Modern Dance Theatre in 1991 and we received Arts Council and Dublin City Council funding. We created my first full length work: Rough Notes and Dance Points in Project Arts Centre. In 1993, we started touring to every part of Ireland, North and South. In 1996, we had our first international tour to Paris, then New York in 1999.
Many great international choreographers work with us including Merce Cunningham, Meredith Monk, Kyle Abraham and Sean Curran. In 2003, I began to make work with Survivors of Torture from SPIRSI, the Centre for Care for Survivors of Torture and we have developed a beautiful unique racially diverse ensemble of different ages and virtuosities. Ireland now has several dance Festivals and dedicated dance centres in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Longford. There are many exciting dance artists and choreographers working here and internationally. My company celebrates our 25th year of existence in Project with a Merce Cunningham masterpiece, Night Wandering and my own new work, Precious Metal. Contemporary dance in Ireland is still young but is starting to kick its legs high.
See John Scott’s Irish Modern Dance Theatre’s (IMDT) Dance Double Bill, featuring the World Premiere of Scott’s Precious Metal and the Irish premiere of one of Merce Cunningham’s masterpieces Night Wandering, at Project Arts Centre for Project 50 from Dec 6-10 - details here.
