Guest columnist: Dylan Quinn – Dance Corner
17th July, 2025
In the first of a series of guest columnist pieces written by members of the Northern Ireland arts community, Fermanagh dance artist Dylan Quinn tells us about Dance Corner, a new engagement project from Luail, Ireland’s national dance company.
Dance Corner was created as part of the ‘To This I Belong’ project from Luail and will travel across all nine counties of Ulster during the summer of 2025.
The brief: four artists across all four provinces of Ireland, commissioned to create “new works and performance experiences for their local communities.”
I was invited to be the artist for Ulster. So, how do you create a dance engagement project for an entire province?
As a Fermanagh artist I instinctively wanted to reach across the province to meet and dance with people where they are. Years ago, I talked with dance friends about how good it would be if every village, town and city had a free water station and a free dance station. You could come along and be hydrated if you were thirsty and emotionally and physically fulfilled if you needed to dance. The Dance Corner was born.
Created in line with the old adage “Dance like no one is watching”, The Dance Corner is a call to self-expression, an invitation to act without fear of judgement, even in public spaces: 26 locations over 32 days across Ulster.
The Dance Corner tour has been an experience full of joy, laughter and dancing. From beaches to boulevards, town centres to town parks, we have twisted, turned, jived, jiggled, bounced and bopped. We have had young and old and all in-between. We have danced with people in their cars, in their wheelchairs, in their buggies, and even in the Atlantic!
In July, Dance Corner travelled to Antrim, Portrush, Ballymena, Castleblaney, Monaghan, Cavan, Swanlinbar to name just a few. There have been lovely moments of jiving and chatting to older dancers and some wonderfully playful moments of creative dancing with children.
In Antrim town I had a fab dance with a young girl whilst she was sitting on the top deck of a double-decker bus and I was busting my moves on the Dance Corner - we danced across the space between us.
On the beach in Glencolmcille an artist came for a brief reflective, calming dance on and indeed in the Atlantic, and on the promenade in Portrush I was bent over double and twisted like a pretzel during a dance with a wonderful young girl with Down Syndrome.
When people approach the Dance Corner and say, “Sure I can’t dance”, I always make it clear that there is no right or wrong dancing on the Dance Corner, there is only dancing in whatever form you wish.
We will be back on the road again throughout August, with visits from Derry to Dungannon, Newcastle to Newry and Belfast to Belcoo and a range of places in between. I hope that you will come and join us in the Dance Corner. No previous experience required.
For further information on Dance Corner and to take part in forthcoming dates, visit the Luail website.
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland supports Maiden Voyage Dance, partners of Luail and Dylan Quinn Dance, Luail collaborators with Dance Corner.