New film shows ‘Sites of Significance’ along the border

A NEWLY released local film and research project charts the experience of dance artists and facilitators in the border region.
Focusing on the Cavan County Council and Fermanagh Omagh District Council local authority areas, the report and film, titled ‘Sites of Significance’, capture traces of the largely “unseen” dance activity that occurs in rural regions that might not be represented in official counting or mapping exercises of dance activity within broader dance, arts, and cultural policy research on the island.
Led by researchers from Queen’s University Belfast and UCD, ‘Sites of Significance’ employs a mixed approach that brings dance practice-as-research together with social scientific methods.
The research team took inspiration from the underground rivers of the Cuilcagh Lakelands UNESCO Global Geopark that traverse the territorial borders of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Cavan and Fermanagh, the (often) invisible pathways to dance and connections between people and places were charted through movement, discussion, and auditing/mapping, allowing for choreographic and dialogic exploration and exchange.
The research was funded by an award from Cavan County Council/Creative Ireland and in collaboration with Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and the Cuilcagh Lakelands UNESCO Global Geopark.
Led by researchers Professor Aoife McGrath (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr Victoria Durrer (University College Dublin), the project team also included research assistant Dr Argyro Tsampazi (Queen’s University Belfast), videographer Simon Mills, and composer Sorca McGrath.
The ‘Sites of Significance’ film features 15 dance artists and facilitators working in the Cavan and Fermanagh-Omagh local authority areas, and further dance artists and facilitators supported the project through engagement with the audit research.
For further information, or to view the film and research report, visit www.cavanlibrary.ie/creativecavan, and select ‘Creative Cavan 2024’.