The People

Adrienne Brown
Chairperson

Adrienne Brown trained in Dublin, and at the London Contemporary Dance School, and the Martha Graham Center of Dance New York, from which she gained first place in her teacher-training certificate in 1996.

She founded New Balance Dance Company in 1987, and has choreographed over 30 works to date, which have been staged in Ireland, England and France. Adrienne was the first Irish choreographer to be invited to take part in the inaugural Writing Dance/Righting Dance project in 1997, at the Institute of Choreography and Dance (ICD), Cork. This was a mentored research project, which took place over three years under mentor, Kim Brandstrup of Arc Dance Company. ICD commissioned her to create the full-length dance work Colmcille, which premiered in 2000 and toured Ireland in 2001.

Adrienne has taught movement to actors at the Gaiety School of Acting for fifteen years, and also teaches technique and choreography at Inchicore College of Further Education.

From 2002 - 2006 she completed a B.A. degree in University College Dublin, graduating with honours in Music and English, and an honours M.A. in American Studies. Following her master’s thesis in 2006, she was awarded an Ad Astra Research Scholarship from U.C.D. to undertake a four-year PhD in Musicology and Dance, based on the proposal “Meaning Indicators in Twentieth-Century Music and Dance.” Attending musicology and dance conferences, she has given several papers on her research.

Adrienne is a founding member of the APDI and current chair of Dance Ireland.

Megan Kennedy
Secretary

Megan trained at Alvin Ailey Dance Center, New York and received a BA Honours from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. Megan is Co-Artistic Director of junk ensemble, which recently won the Culture Ireland Touring Award for Drinking Dust (Dublin Fringe 2008). Megan performed in The Abbey Theatre’s production of Romeo+Juliet (Dir: Jason Byrne) and has performed with Retina Dance Company, CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Bedrock Theatre Company,  Brokentalkers Theatre, Cat in a Cup Theatre, This Torsion Dance Theatre, Storytelling Unplugged(Romania), Shakram Dance Company, and The Pavilion Theatre (IRL). Choreography includes Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades Opera(Edinburgh Festival Theatre), Caucasian Chalk Circle (Samuel Beckett Theatre) and eX Choral Ensemble(IRL).

Cindy Cummings

Born in Wenatchee Washington, USA, Cindy Cummings studied Dance and Theatre at the University of Oregon, and in NYC. As a choreographer / performer / improviser, her work is an adventurous mix of contemporary & traditional dance techniques from around the world, the majority of which are collaborations in a diverse range of mediums and settings.

She has contributed much to the Irish performing arts since her first appearance in Zero Crossing with icontact dance theatre for the 1990 Dublin Theatre Festival. She has created an extensive catalogue of choreography for dance and theatre and has been producing/creating/performing original and innovative solos with many artistic collaborators from the U.S. and Europe since 1993.
Her work has been seen at the ICA and South Bank Center (London); CCA, Tron, Tramway and Arches (Glasgow); Cambridge and Colchester Arts Centres; Yale & Brown Universities; and has toured to Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou (PRC). Most notably, her work with U.S. composer Todd Winkler ('Hitch's Bitches' and 'Falling Up') utilizing interactive technologies (the Very Nervous System with Jitter live video processing) is extremely well received internationally. Their ongoing collaborative work is part of the multi media graduate programmes at Brown, Yale & Columbia Universities and Trinity College Dublin. She has also performed for many Irish companies including The Corn Exchange, half/angel dance theatre, Meridian Theatre Company, Cois Ceim and The Ark, has worked in film and TV and taught in a number of third level colleges including the Samuel Beckett Centre (TCD) and The Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin.

Lisa McLoughlin

Lisa trained with The Pauline McGrath School of Ballet and at the Rambert School, London. On graduation she joined Daghdha Dance Company under the direction of Mary Nunan, performing in New Twist (1998) and Double Take(1999); and later under the direction of Yoshiko Chuma performing in Coisir an tSionann (2002), The Living Room Project (2002), 10 Thousand Steps (2002), and Reverse Psychology (2003).

A founding member of Rex Levitates Dance Company, she has performed with them alongside the National Ballet of China in Beijing, in Peeling Venus (2000), The Salt Cycle (2001), Blush (2001), SSHH (2001), Bread and Circus (2003), Resuscitate (2005), Sweet Apollo (2006), The All Weather Project (2007), and Cross Purposes (2007). In addition, she has performed with CoisCéim, Ciotóg, Catapult, New Balance Dance Company, Marguerite Donlon and Dancers, and Opera Ireland. One of her choreographies, Tender hooks of honesty, was awarded the Jane Snow Award at the 2003 Dublin Fringe Festival.

She is a qualified Pilates instructor and co founded of Studio 32 Pilates Studio, she has wide experience as a dance teacher, working with students whose ages ranged from 3 to 80. I was chosen as one of five artists for the Mus-e project, a three-year Arts Council funded project that investigated methods of teaching the arts in schools identified as being in socially deprived areas in Dublin. Lisa has also taught older people as part of CoisCéim Broad Reach programme, Too young to be old.

Anne Maher

Anne has over thirty years' experience in ballet, first as a dancer and later as a director, manager and co-founder of Ballet Ireland. Anne trained initially in Ireland and then at L'acadamie de danse Classique in Monte Carlo on a scholarship from the late Princess Grace of Monaco. After a successful career as a dancer, dancing all of the major roles in the classical repertoire, Anne retired as a dancer and moved into management, setting up and developing Ballet Ireland into a successful and vibrant touring company. She is responsible for general management at Ballet Ireland, including planning and negotiating national and international touring schedules, funding negotiations with Arts Council of Ireland and Government agencies and is on Ballet Ireland's Board of Directors. Issues currently close to her heart are the development of a more vibrant and cohesive ballet community in Ireland and finding ways of developing better teaching models with a view to the establishment of a professional school in Ireland.

Fearghus Ó Conchúir

Fearghus is an independent choreographer and dance artist. Brought up in An Rinn, he completed degrees in English and European Literature at Magdalen College Oxford, before training at London Contemporary Dance School.

He is the first Ireland Fellow on the Clore Leadership Programme and continues to contribute to the programme as a facilitator and speaker. He is a Board member of Project Arts Centre and of Create. He reports for Imeall, TG4's flagship arts programme.  His current creative preoccupation is the relationship between bodies and buildings in the context of urban regeneration, a preoccupation that has manifested itself in film and live performance in Dublin and in China. Current projects include a collaboration with composer Rachel Holstead, based in the Gaeltachts of Munster, a public art commission for Fingal County Council on the Martello Towers of the area, and a development of his collaboration with Chinese choreographer, Xiao Ke and composer, Yin Yi.

Paul Johnson
Chief Executive

Paul Johnson was appointed Chief Executive of Dance Ireland in June 2006. Johnson is responsible to the Board of Directors of Dance Ireland for the overall management of the organisation, including liaising with funders, ensuring that Dance Ireland adheres to its remit and mandate.

With over 21 years’ experience as a dance artist, Johnson has worked on a range of dance, theatre and film projects with among others Daghdha Dance Company, Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre, Druid Theatre Company, icontact, IMDT, Rubato Ballet, Scottish Ballet Steps Out, Transitions Dance Company, Tag Theatre Company and his own company MaNDaNCE (1991 to 2001).

He holds a BA in Communication Studies and a MA in Communication and Cultural Studies from Dublin City University. He is the author of Fine Lines on Shifting Ground: Reflections on a Choreographic Process (Project Press: 2000).

Johnson is on the board of directors of Dance Resource Base (NI) Ltd; Janice Claxton Dance Edinburgh; RGH Consulting and the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

Siân Cunningham
General Manager

Siân Cunningham joined Dance Ireland as General Manager in October 2006. Reporting to the Chief Executive, she is responsible for the overall financial management of the organisation, with specific responsibility for the day to day running of DanceHouse.

Siân spent seven years working with the Arts Council, where she held a number of portfolios, including Artists' Services, Local Authority and Arts Officer posts. She holds a BA in Music and German, BMus, HDip in Arts Administration, and a BA in Law.

Audrey Houdart
Artistic Programme Manager

Audrey Houdart joined Dance Ireland as Artistic Programme Manager in September 2009. Reporting to the Chief Executive, she is responsible for delivery of the artistic programme.

Audrey has worked with many international arts organisations and festivals such as the Centre National de la Danse (CND), Culturesfrance, Les Hivernales - Choreographic Development Center (CDC) - as part of the Avignon Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before she joined Dance Ireland. She holds a BA in French literature, an MA in Comparative literature from UCC, and an MA in Theatre Production from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.

Inga Byrne
Administrator

Inga Byrne joined Dance Ireland in September 2008. Reporting to the General Manager, Inga is responsible for membership, information dissemination and office administration.

Inga holds a B.A. in Business Studies with Arts Management from DLIADT, and worked with the Talbot Gallery before joining Dance Ireland.

Brenda Crea
Reception / Administrative Assistant

Brenda joined Dance Ireland in January 2006. Reporting to the General Manager, Brenda is responsible for DanceHouse reception and front-of-house and provide administrative support.

Brenda has worked in a range of office administrative posts, including positions with the Department of Attorney General, MacGinley Solicitors, and Symantec Ltd.

Glenn Montgomery
Reception / Administrative Assistant

Glenn joined Dance Ireland in January 2006. Reporting to the General Manager, Glenn is responsible for DanceHouse reception and front-of-house and provide administrative support.

Glenn holds a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from Trinity College Dublin, he has held administrative positions with Happy Endings Production and Designworks Graphic Design.