"A Song and a Dance" Community Dance Project for Seniors in Docklands
A SONG AND A DANCE is a series of 10 music and dance workshops for up to 40 senior citizens in Dublin's Docklands - which will culminate in a short performance at an open Tea Dance in the Seán O'Casey Community Centre, St. Mary's Road, East Wall, in October. This project is supported by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority in partnership with the Macushla Dance Club. The course will be delivered by choreographers - Dr. Ríonach Ní Neill and Michelle Cahill. The classes will take place every Friday morning for 10 weeks, from 14th August 2009, from 10.30am to 12.00pm in the newly opened award winning Seán O' Casey community centre. This is the first project which the Docklands Authority has programmed in the new community centre. Its aim is to encourage community participation in the arts - a stated goal of the Docklands Arts and Cultural Strategy.
The course is open to all men and women over 50 years living in the Docklands area. All levels of fitness will be catered for and the classes can be taken sitting or standing. Participants must provide their own transportation to and from the centre.
A SONG AND A DANCE is one of two Docklands supported community arts projects in 2009 which get professional artists and curators engaging directly with the docklands community. The other project entitled ‘AS WE SEE' - was a community photography project which was run in association with the South Docks Festival, in St. Andrew's Resource Centre on Pearse Street, Dublin 2.
About Macushla Dance Club
Macushla Dance Club was established by Ríonach Ní Neill in 2007. The club is named after the old Foley Street ballroom where many of its members met their husbands and wives. It provides free weekly dance classes to the over-50s of Dublin's north-east inner city in the Dance House building on Foley Street. There is an annual attendance of 1,300 members. See www.macushladanceclub.com.
About the Seán O'Casey Community Centre
The new Sean O'Casey Community Centre on St Mary's Road, East Wall, Docklands was officially opened on Friday 6th February 2009 by Bertie Ahern, TD, following a complete rebuild and extension. The €9 million investment was part-funded by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.
Designed by O'Donnell + Tuomey architects, the dramatic 2,000 square metre building houses four main facilities - a crèche, day care facilities for the elderly, a 153 seat theatre and a sports hall. These individual elements open into a series of internal courtyards in a cloister type layout. The signature five storey tower with its distinctive porthole windows gives East Wall its own piece of physical regeneration. Visible from other areas of the city it houses meeting rooms, adult education class rooms and offices. Outside there is an all weather soccer pitch.
Landscaping plays an important role in the creation of the pleasing atmosphere in the centre. The building is surrounded on three sides with a moat of grass and trees, while interior gardens of miniature woodlands planted with oak, birch and hazel diagonally link the interior sections.
The Seán O'Casey Community Centre was one of six schemes shortlisted this year for the Royal Institute of British Architects' (RIBA) prestigious Lubetkin Prize for architecture. The other projects vying for the prize - for the best international building by an RIBA member - were Foster and Partners' Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal, the British High Commission in Colombo by Richard Murphy Architects, Museum Brandhorst in Munich by Sauerbuch Hutton and the Watercube, National Swimming Centre in Beijing by PTW Architects and
the National Stadium in Beijing by Herzog & de Meuron - which was the eventual winner.
About The Docklands Authority
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority was established by the Irish Government in 1997 to lead a major project of physical, social, cultural and economic regeneration on the east side of Dublin city. The Docklands Authority is self-financing and to date has attracted an estimated €7 billion of public and private investment in Dublin's Docklands.
The regeneration project encompasses some 1,300 acres of prime riverside land and is creating an exciting new focal point for the city. What was once an economically deprived area of the capital is steadily being transformed into a thriving new district.
For further information or photography, please contact:
Loretta Lambkin, Docklands Authority, 01 818 3300, llambkin@dublindocklands.ie