Dance Development Programme: Kildare County Council
Kildare County Council’s Dance Development Programme centres on the exploration of contemporary dance and the provision of community dance training.
Since 1998, the extensive programme has included accredited training and the establishment of Kildare Dance Summer School in Maynooth University. The Dance Summer School focuses on Dance with Disability, Dance in Contexts, Youth Dance, Choreography and the very memorable Movement Choir.
In partnership with the Laban Guild, the Arts Council and other stakeholders, the Arts Service continues to support dancers and provide professional development opportunities through initiatives such as the Dance Bursary Award and Laban Guild Dance Leaders Courses. More recently, advanced courses have been developed to support further Laban studies.
Committed to Arts in Education, a number of Dance Artist in Residence programmes have taken place in primary and secondary schools in the county, as well as featuring strongly in the ‘If I Had an Artist for a Day …’ programme.
The Arts Service currently supports a Dance Artist in Residence programme in the Froebel Education Department, Maynooth University.
In 2009, the Arts Service commissioned Louise Costello to write a response to Kildare’s Dance programme, entitled ‘When We Dance’.