Auditorium Theatre 2019-2020 Trinity Irish Dance Company

6 | TRINITY IRISH DANCE COMPANY | FEBRUARY 29, 2020 BIOGRAPHIES EXIT Festival. A graduate and faculty member of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Curran now serves as the university’s Chair of the Department of Dance. He has over 20 years of teaching experience in modern technique, improvisation, body percussion, and composition as a visiting artist at the American Dance Festival, Harvard Summer Dance Center, Bates Dance Festival, Boston’s Conservatory of Music, and over 100 United States university dance departments. Curran has created works for the Limon Dance Company, Trinity Irish Dance Company, ABT II, Denmark’s Upper Cut Company, Sweden’s Skänes Dance Theater, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Ririe Woodbury Dance Theater, and Dance Alloy. He has also been involved in countless notable commercial projects. Irish American Magazine selected Curran as one of its “Top 100.” He has been awarded several Choreographer’s Fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Seán Curran Company is a proud grantee of the National Endowment for the Arts. Happiest when making new work, Curran hopes to continue to be an ambassador for the art of dance by building and educating the dance audiences of tomorrow. MICHAEL DONNELLAN (Contributing Choreographer) began his Irish dancing career at 5 years old. In the last 30 years, he has won two solo World Championship titles, as well as titles at the All Ireland, British National, Munster, and Great Britain championships. Donnellan is a former leading male performer of both Riverdance and Lord of the Dance . In 1999, he turned his talents to directorial and choreographic work with Star Entertainment’s Magic of the Dance and later took the role of director of choreography of Retfar Entertainment’s The Rhythms of Ireland , both of which continue to see Donnellan’s work performed on a nightly basis. Now, Donnellan is a choreographer of Danceperados of Ireland and the Director of Dance at Raglan Road at Disney World in Orlando, FL. He is a qualified physical education teacher from Brunel University London, and holds a master’s degree in dance performance from the University of Limerick. As a qualified TCRG and ADCRG (certified Irish dance teacher), Donnellan is the director of the Donnellan School of Irish Dance in Ennis Co. Clare, Ireland, which also has a branch near Hamburg, Germany. He holds workshops in Portugal and Spain and regularly performs with the world-renowned Kilfenora Ceili Band and Fusion Fighters. MICHELLE DORRANCE (Choreographer) is a New York City-based performer and choreographer, and is the Artistic Director of Dorrance Dance. Mentored by Gene Medler (North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble), Dorrance was lucky to study under many of the last master hoofers. Career highlights include STOMP, Imagine Tap!, Charlie's Angels/Chasing the Bird , Ti Dii, Mable Lee’s Dancing Ladies, and solo work ranging from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to collaborations with Damian Woetzel and commissions for American Ballet Theatre and the Martha Graham Dance Company. A 2017 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow and 2015 MacArthur Fellow, Dorrance holds a bachelor’s degree from New York University and is a Capezio Athlete. COLIN DUNNE (Choreographer) is a leading figure in the world of traditional Irish dance who has made the cross over into contemporary dance and theatre. Best known internationally for his performances and choreography in Riverdance and Dancing on Dangerous Ground , Dunne has been forging a new creative path since his time as artist in residence at University of Limerick, where he completed a master’s degree in contemporary dance in 2002. In 2007, he was nominated for a UK Critics Circle National Dance Award in the Best Male: Modern Dance category for performances at the Barbican in Fabulous Beast’s production of The Bull . His first full-length solo show, Out of Time , premiered at Glór Irish Music Centre in January 2008. This multi-disciplinary work (dance, text, sound technology, and archival film footage) sees Dunne return to the question of his traditional dance roots from the perspective of a contemporary practitioner. His ongoing work is supported by The Arts Council/An Comharaile Ealaion. Since 2004, he has received two bursary awards, a commission award, and a project: new work award. MICHAEL GARDINER (Contributing Choreographer) started Irish dancing in Denver, CO at the age of 5. He won the Western Regional Oireachtas four times and competed all over the United States. In 2006, Gardiner moved with his family to Clarinbridge in Galway and joined the Hession School of Irish Dancing. Under the tutelage of the Hession teachers, Gardiner won many regional and national titles, including the Connacht Championships, British Nationals, Great Britains, All Scotlands, All Irelands, Irish Nationals, and ultimately back-to-back World Championships in Irish dance. Gardiner retired from competitive dancing in 2015 after winning his second world title. Gardiner made Irish dance history with his brother Matthew by becoming the first brothers in 30 years to simultaneously win the World Championships in Irish dance. He has performed with the Kilfenora Ceili Band and Fusion Fighters, and recently returned from Riverdance ’s winter tour of China. He is drawn to TIDC because of its unique balance of innovation with tradition. He is a keen lover of Irish dance and music and is recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Limerick.