Atelier Students Investigate Relationship Between Irish Step Dance, Merce Cunningham Technique

An audience watches as Jean Butler raises her leg with her arms at her side

Photo by Justin Goldberg

7 dancers in a line all with an arm and a knee raised

Photo by Justin Goldberg

Two dancers in the mid-ground, each with an arm and a knee raised

Photo by Justin Goldberg

Four dancers moving in a line behind one woman dancing in the center of the stage

Photo by Justin Goldberg

A dancer with his back to the camera stands on a raised platform with his arms pointed to his right while in front of other performers

Photo by Justin Goldberg

Two women with microphones sitting opposite from 5 performers

Photo by Justin Goldberg

During the spring 2018 Princeton Atelier course, “ROARATORIO: Irish Dance and the Cunningham Technique,” students investigated the relationship between the seemingly disparate forms of Irish Step Dance and the Merce Cunningham Technique. Taught by choreographers Jean Butler (Riverdance) and Silas Riener ’06 (Merce Cunningham Co.), paramount to the course were discussions on, and examination of, cultural appropriation, legacy, tradition and how these ideas transform new expression through experimentation. The course culminated in an informal evening of performance in the Forum at the Lewis Arts complex on May 2, 2018, when students presented an open studio-style showing of choreographic studies generated by students in response to Irish Dance, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and James Joyce.