about

Image credit Clare Keogh.

Since 2016 Mary has returned to working as an independent artist: choreographer, performer, collaborator, writer.

‘My curiosity about the raw materials of movement and questions about what dance is (is not) are currently the driving force of my practice.’  Mary Nunan.

Sources of Inspiration: Her practice as a dance artist, in all its manifestations had been inspired by her study and practice of the Erick Hawkins contemporary dance technique, post-modern release-based dance techniques, Improvisation, Contact Improvisation, the Somatic practices of Body-Mind Centering and Authentic Movement, Yoga and Qi Gong. It has, since 1986, also been inspired by her study of principles and practices drawn from Tibetan Buddhism (Dzogchen) under the guidance of Sogyal Rinpoche and other Dzogchen Masters. 

Additional Information

Ensemble Choreographies: As Artistic Director of Daghdha Dance Company, Mary created a substantial body of critically acclaimed ensemble choreographies that toured extensively to venues and festivals at home and abroad: including London (South Bank), Berlin (Podweil Theatre), Munich (Dance ’95), Paris (Pompidou Centre) (1996), Guanajuato (Festival Cervantino), Mexico (1998). She also choreographed many works for the Company’s Education Programme that toured extensively to schools throughout Ireland. 

She resigned as Artistic Director of the Company in 1999 to take up a position as the inaugural Course Director of the MA Contemporary Dance Performance, University of Limerick. 

‘The dancer me and I don’t always fit easily together. We disturb each other. She takes me places where I don’t always want to go. And visa-versa.’ Mary Nunan (journal extract Sept 2016)

Solo Choreographies: In 1986 Mary choreographed and performed her first solo ‘Search’. She returned to solo-making in 2016 with ‘The Movement’. It was commissioned as part of her activities as Bealtaine national dance-artist-in-residence. It was performed in venues throughout Ireland and in New York City at the 92Y, at ‘The Dancer and The Dance’ Festival (2019). Her most recent solo ‘Slant’ (2022) was performed at ‘What Next’ (Dance Limerick 2023) and ‘Take Off’ (Dance Cork 2024) and The Black Box, Galway. 

‘A dance, a gesture, does not start as a gesture, a step. My interest lies in getting as close as possible to where it starts: the source.’ Mary Nunan

Choreography-for-Camera: The screen adaptation of her dance-theatre work ‘Territorial Claims’, filmed in 1997, was selected for screening at the Lincoln Centre’s Dance-for-Camera Festival in New York City (1998). Other choreographies for camera include: ‘Return Journey’ (2008), ‘HaH’ (2010)  in collaboration with Mary Wycherley (2010) and ‘Starting with T’ (2015 ). The latter created in collaboration  with community groups in Limerick and developed in collaboration with artists Monica Spencer, Jürgen Simpson and Mary Wycherley.  

‘Some of my works are overtly political.‘Teritorial Claims’ is one such work. The politics underlying recent choreographies are less visible on the surface. They are embedded in the choreographic process and in the layers of their content/structures’. Mary Nunan

Site Specific Choreographies: ‘Nothing Accidental in this Big Dance’ (2022). Commissioned by Dance Limerick. Performed in John’s Square, Limerick.

‘The aim, was to create a ‘frame’ for this site-specific performance that was both lightly strong and deliberately porous enough so that all the movement that passed through John’s Square could be experienced as part of the dance. It was!’ Mary Nunan

Collaborations: Performances created in collaboration with artists from across a range of artforms including: Joan Davis (Maya Lila Collective), Yoshiko Chuma (Dance Artist), Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín (Dance Artist), Oscar Mascarenas (Composer), Laura Murphy (Dance Artist), Karen Power (Composer), Nigel Rolfe (Performance Artist), Jo Slade (Poet), Lin Snelling/Guy Cools (Improvisation), Jurgen Simpson (Composer), Monica Spencer (Theatre/Community Activist), Mary Wycherley (Dance/Film). 

‘Questions about truth and meaning-in-movement have emerged from my practice in recent years. Is it possible to experience truth without meaning? This question opened up a space for reflection. It didn’t need to be answered, as least in words. It emerged from, and folded back into, my dance practice. When I later read the following quote by Arendt, ‘Truth and Meaning not the same’ I smiled.’ Mary Nunan (Journal extract 2021)

Writing: She earned her PhD from Middlesex University (2013). And has published a number of peer-reviewed articles on choreographic process and performance.

Read more in Writing.

Awards and Commissions

Arts Council of Ireland
European Kaleidoscope (funding programme for the Arts)
Limerick City and County Arts Office 
Create, Ireland
Culture Ireland

Commissions include:

Bealtaine Festival
Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick
Dublin Dance Festival
Dance Limerick
Great Irish Famine event
L’imaginaire Irelandaise
Limerick City Gallery of Art
Project Arts Centre, Dublin.  
Toyota Funds (Irish World Academy of Music and Dance)

Residencies/Guest Lecturer

2024: Dance House Lefkosia, Cyprus
2016: Guest tutor RCA, London
2016: Bealtaine Festival, Ireland, Dancer-in-Residence
2015: Visiting artist/scholar Arizona State University (ASU) Guest tutor, RCA, London
2013:  Guest tutor, RCA, London
2006: Honorary Visiting Senior Lecturer, University of Middlesex, UK
2002: Le Groupe Choreographic Centre, Ottawa, Canada
1999: Banff Centre for the Arts, Calgary Canada (with The Secret Project)
1997: Carlsbad Arts Office, Carlsbad, California
1996: Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique and de Danse, Lyon, France

Board member of Professional Bodies

2012- 2019: Member of Board of Directors, Lime Tree Theatre, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick
2012 –2015: Member of Arts-in-Education Implementation Committee (appointed by Government Ministers Deenihan and  Quinn)
2010- 2013: Chair of Steering Commitee of ‘Step-Up’ Dance Project
2006-2007: Chair, Arts and Education Special Committee. (Dept. Education; Dept. Arts, Sports and Tourism, Arts Council). Appointed Chair by the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism Mr John O’Donoghue. 
2003-2008: Member of the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaion.
2001-2003: Founding Board of Directors, International Dance Festival, Ireland (now Dublin Dance Festival)
2002-2004: Steering Committee, Irish Government Arts Festival in China.
1999-2003: Board of Governors, Limerick Institute of Technology.
1989-1999: Board of Directors Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick.