NEWCASTLE West artist Danny Aherne has moved a step closer to realising his dream of create a dance film to be used as part of a public performance.
A €2,000 Arts Council grant will allow him to be mentored by Mary Wycherley, one of Ireland’s best known artists working in dance film.
The process will begin with his involvement in the ‘Light Moves’ festival of screen dance, the first of its kind in Ireland, which takes place in Dance Limerick from November 6 to 9.
Danny, who has physical disabilities, hopes the mentoring process will enable him to develop skills that would enable him to produce a film that is of high enough quality to be used as part of a public performance by Spoken Dance.
“I bring my own unique experience of being inside the dance creative process and my perspective as a visual artist to dance film. Dance film offers me a vast canvass to work on in a way that is not limited by my physical abilities. It allows me to bring the viewer into the dance and view it from the inside.”
Danny revealed that he has often had to forego performing as a dance artist due to ill health, but that having a practice as a dance filmmaker ensures his continued creative involvement with Spoken Dance, regardless of his unpredictable health problems.
He added: “Mary Wycherley’s experience in dance film is unique. She can help me to see dance and make dance with the eye and expertise of a filmmaker.”
Arts and Disability Connect is a new scheme designed to support artists with disabilities to make new and ambitious work; in the first year of the awards, seven artists have been awarded €25,000 between them.
