Cosmic Dancer

Karen Gleeson 27OCT16

ike jazz, Marmite and Newtown Mount agus Kennedy, modern dance isn’t for most people.

Significantly, we’re beyond the realm of acquired taste, and into a kink in your thinking. Which may explain why contemporary dance isn’t for most people.

When Theatre Lane recently celebrated Culture Night by packing in as many different forms of art as they could under one roof – and all, spiritually, under the eclectic eye of Ronnie Drew – it was just as important to have Irish dancers rubbing padded shoulders with a burlesque babe as it was to have ballet belles spinning blissfully alongside contemporary dancers. 

It was no surprise that the strange movements of the latter – Emma Fitzgerald, Karen Gleeson and Tara Nixon-O’Neill – didn’t grab quite as many people as the familiar diddley-aye and naughty hip-swivels going on upstairs. Contemporary dance isn’t out to please the masses. It’s out to splash some colour into your grey matter.

When we met up with Karen at Theatre Lane this afternoon, she was nursing a sprained foot – brought about, of course, through impassioned rehearsals. Currently one of the dancers in residence at the Mermaid Theatre in Bray, Karen will be debuting a new show in the new year. So, watch this space.

In the meantime, we set out to discover just how it was that Karen went so deep into the groove…

You can check out Karen’s work on YouTube here and on Vimeo here. You can also find out more about classes and performances The Mermaid here.