Our Associate Artist programme is a means by which The Civic seeks to actively support the professional and personal development of an artist over the long term whilst also encouraging and empowering the artist to enrich the creative culture of The Civic.
Get to know each of our associates in a series of blogs over the coming weeks.
Meet Laura Macken
Laura is an Irish dance artist whose practice spans choreography and dance education in a variety of contexts. Working primarily through the contemporary ballet style, she has created original works for stage and screen and has received Arts Council Dance Projects awards in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
Her works Connections and Lift have been performed at Project Arts, and her dance film The Ballet Hold screened at The Wicklow Screendance Festival and at Dancer From the Dance Festival. In 2023 Laura began research and development for a new work which examines the journey of being a dance artist in Ireland and the challenges it presents. This exploration is based on her own experience of surviving as an artist here in Ireland and that of other artists interviewed for her thesis while completing her MA in dance at the University of Limerick in 2017. Laura hopes to continue with this R&D in the future.
Through her artist associate with Civic, Laura‘s looks forward to engaging with dance schools and groups in the area and aims to promote the use of classical dance in a contemporary way, encouraging young dance practitioners to include classically based movement when developing contemporary dance.
Laura has 35 years of dance experience as a performer, choreographer, and dance educator. She is a regular teacher for Dance Ireland’s professional programme and teaches Coisceim Dance Theatre company classes. Her dance education also spans to full-time dance students at The College of Dance, Coisceim Broadreach senior dance classes, and she has worked extensively in school programmes. As a qualified psychotherapist, Laura‘s work in schools has a focus on positive mental health benefits through dance. Laura has experience working with special needs adults and children throughout her career and trained in Autism movement therapy in NY through an Arts Council Travel and Training award.
“I look forward to sharing my knowledge and experience in dance with the communities surrounding the Civic Theatre and using this opportunity to cultivate further engagement with contemporary dance “.
For More Info on our Associate Artists,
see HERE
