From Swan Lake to MÁM: How Bord Gáis Energy Theatre has elevated dance in Ireland

Dance companies appearing on the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre (BGET) stage reflect the creativity happening in the art form today. Since the theatre opened in 2010, it has presented companies that Irish audiences might not otherwise see. from Matthew Bourne’s iconic Swan Lake to the contemporary Nederlands Dans Theater 2.

When Michael Keegan-Dolan’s MÁM opens on July 13th and 14th, it will be a watershed moment, not only for the Irish choreographer and his company of dancers, Teaċ Daṁsa, but also for the theatre’s commitment to dance. General manager Stephen Faloon quietly yet deliberately has cultivated a dance audience since the beginning of his tenure, and welcoming Keegan-Dolan is the next step in Faloon becoming one of Ireland’s most trusted dance presenters.

“I’m a passionate advocate for dance and I want to make sure I develop dance in this theatre, develop dance on this stage and actually bring people on a journey,” Faloon says. “And if you ask me what I would love to see, it would be that in five years’ time people would be coming to see dance at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre three to four times a year with companies that they’ve never heard of. Because they trust the theatre and our brand, they’ll come and support it. Even if it’s something that they didn’t personally connect to, they’ll always understand why that piece of dance is on the stage.”

When the theatre first opened, members of the dance community looked on with envy at its capacity for large-scale productions, while audiences collectively breathed a sigh of relief at no longer having to watch full-length ballets from bleacher seats in the 3 Arena (then known as the O2).

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Dance programming has been more of a slow burn for Faloon, who faces demands to balance accessible programming with commercial viability. In addition to a string of successful Swan Lakes by different companies through the years, he has given audiences a taste beyond the familiar. Thanks to Faloon’s willingness to experiment, it has been possible to see The Lion King one week and Akram Khan’s Giselle or the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Pepperland another.

Enter Keegan-Dolan’s MÁM, one of Faloon’s boldest dance programming decisions to date. Keegan-Dolan is one of Ireland’s most successful choreographers, and, like many of the country’s best-known dance artists, his work is also seen off the island to much acclaim. Keegan-Dolan infuses his work with spoken word, live music and a unique theatricality that has become his trademark.

Throughout his career, Keegan-Dolan has birthed numerous productions that feature unconventional and unexpected narrative threads. His 2016 Swan Lake/Loch na hEala includes actor Mikel Murfi falling from grace, accompanied by swans that appear like broken-winged angels. The Bull (2005) offers a satirical look at Celtic Tiger Ireland, complete with a dirt floor onstage as a canvas for the action.

“He’s a great representation of the art form in Ireland and, to me, he’s up there and at the pinnacle of his career,” Faloon says. “The way he tells his story, the way that he connects, the way that his work resonates, I sit there and I’m transported to a different world. It’s the perfect representation of dance. With MÁM and the beautiful music, it’s just so exciting. There’s that visceral connection that you have with it.”

Audience members used to blockbuster shows and watching dance from a distance will find a completely different experience with MÁM. The performers’ interactions come from a deep, honest place, due to the way Keegan-Dolan creates, so that even in a large theatre, watching becomes experiential.

“‘Perform’ is a word I don’t really like to use,” says Keegan-Dolan. “I always think of circus animals performing or bears dancing around. What I’m working on is a kind of removal of the performing. There’s very little of the idea of ‘Look at me. I’m doing this. Look how great I am.’ Instead there’s a sense of ‘being in’ and ‘being with.’”

With MÁM dancers respond to each other and to the music. Emotions build and swirl. Resolution ensues. Traditional Irish concertina player Cormac Begley fuels the dancers along with the European music collective s t a r g a z e, until the separation between music and dance disappears. The intensity between the performers is palpable.

“I realised that there’s another kind of unison,” Keegan-Dolan says. “It requires a kind of heightened sensitivity. And I think for people watching it, if they watch closely, it’s tangible.”

Presenting more intimate works at BGET can be challenging. Aside from the practicalities of scale, dance tells stories in a less-traditional way. However, Keegan-Dolan is no stranger to big stages, having presented his work at Sadler’s Wells, the Perth Festival in Australia, New Zealand Festival of the Arts and Teatros del Canal, Madrid. After its Dublin run, MÁM goes to the Venice Biennale Danza.

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This will be the largest venue in Ireland to present Keegan-Dolan’s work. Faloon sees it as an opportunity to champion one of Ireland’s top artists.

“It’s a chance for the people who have seen his shows at all the smaller theatres to see it here in a different way. Here, they can connect with it on a bigger level. One of the wonderful things about theatre is you’re sitting with other like-minded people. So, we know there’s going to be a big audience – the biggest audience that he’s played to in Ireland – and that’s really special. Those people will have that shared experience of sitting together, watching this brilliant work.”

Some audiences might be familiar with MÁM from the big screen. In 2021 filmmaker Pat Collins documented the making of MÁM in his film The Dance. In it we’re taken to Teaċ Daṁsa’s rehearsal space in Kerry, watching Keegan-Dolan discover movement phrases while bringing together the production’s cast, including his wife, dancer Rachel Poirier, and, ultimately, their daughter Ellie.

Including Ellie was a decision that happened organically over Rice Krispies one morning, Keegan-Dolan says.

“I was imagining this little girl in the piece, and oddly my mum was approaching the end of her life, and Ellie was approaching the beginning of her life,” he says. “And they kind of reminded me of each other a little bit, my own mother and Ellie, and my partner Rachel’s mother. I knew I wanted a young girl in the show and said, ‘How do you feel about doing it?’ She was like, ‘Yeah, no problem.’”

Ellie appears as the young girl dressed in white on a table as the show opens. Three years after her debut, the 11-year-old has grown out of three different costumes and sets of shoes. “She’s nearly at the point now she doesn’t fit on the table any more,” Keegan-Dolan says. “So that’ll be probably be the end of her journey with MÁM. If we continue to do it for next year, I said we’d have to find a new little girl. She knows that and she’s okay with it.”

Faloon expects MÁM to prime Irish audiences for seeing more dance at BGET. He already has programmed São Paulo Dance Company, a contemporary Brazilian company known for its bold theatricality and Latin spirit. He also remains in continuous discussions with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, deterred only by that company’s demanding tour schedule. He envisions companies from abroad on the BGET stage in the future, as well as other indigenous Irish companies as dance audiences here continue to grow.

“It’s all just happening,” Faloon says. “We actually have to sit down and figure out how to start talking about this in a public forum and getting the audience to understand what our ambitions and plans are. And maybe conversations like this are part of that, the beginning of that journey. It sort of clearly sets out that we’re actually going to bring in the best in international dance and the best in national dance. Eventually the two will meld together, and they’re going to be both of equal standing.”

MÁM is at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre July 13 and 14

Dance performances at BGET

March 2010 Russian State Ballet/Swan Lake

July 2011 Birmingham Royal Ballet/Coppelia

December 2012 Tchaikovsky Perm State Ballet/The Nutcracker, Swan Lake

July 2013 Birmingham Royal Ballet/Giselle

February 2014 Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake

November 2014 Tchaikovsky Perm State Ballet/Romeo and Juliet

January 2015 Moscow City Ballet/Giselle

November 2015 Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty

May 2016 Alonzo King Lines Ballet

April 2016 Akram Khan’s Giselle

October 2018 Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

February 2019 Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake

April 2019 Mark Morris’s Pepperland

June 2019 Nederlands Dans Theater 2

November 2019 St Petersburg Ballet Theatre/Swan Lake

February 2020 Moscow City Ballet/Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty

April 2022 Nederlands Dans Theater 2

January 2023 Estonian National Ballet/Swan Lake