BEGIN ANYWHERE
with
an exerpt of FOUR SOLOS
Photo Credit: Nir Arieli
Irish Modern Dance Theatre and Mel Mercier
BEGIN ANYWHERE
New work by John Scott and Mel Mercier
Commissioned by the Irish Arts Center
Four Solos
by Merce Cunningham
by arrangement with the Merce Cunningham Trust
The Civic
18 March 2025
Four Solos
Changeling (1957): François Malbranque
Solo (1975): Boris Charrion
50 Looks (1979): Magdalena Hylak
RainForest (1968), excerpted solo: François Malbranque
Choreography: Merce Cunningham
Choreography staged by: Ashley Chen (Changeling, RainForest), Cheryl Therrien (Solo), Patricia Lent (50 Looks)
Choreography arranged by: Patricia Lent
Music: John King,100tone candles
Lighting Design: Joe Levasseur
Choreography by Merce Cunningham © Merce Cunningham Trust. All rights reserved.
Begin Anywhere
Choreography: John Scott
Composition: Mel Mercier and the musicians
Dancers: Boris Charrion, Vinícius Martins Araújo, Magdalena Hylak, François Malbranque, and Adam O'Reilly
Musicians: Mel Mercier, Mick O’Shea, and Kevin McNally
Cassette Tape Audio: Danny McCarthy
Lighting Designer: Joe Levasseur
Chief LX: Gus Papagiannis
Costume Designer: Gabriel Berry
Company Manager: Carla Fazio
Soundscore Voices: Louise Burns, Karen Eliot, Victoria Finlayson, Catherine Kerr, David Kulick, Joseph Lennon, Patricia Lent, Kristy Santimyer-Melita (former members of Merce Cunningham Dance Company); Sienna Blaw (dancer with the Merce Cunningham Trust)
Soundscore Audio Engineering: Donncha Moynihan
Production Credits
Company Manager: Carla Fazio
Production Manager: Leo McKenna
Stage Manager: Sarah Purcell
Chief LX: Konstantinos Papagiannis
Asst Chief LX: Emma Brennan (Project Arts Centre), Grace Woulfe (The Civic)
Begin Anywhere & Four Solos is supported by Arts Council of Ireland| An Comhairle Ealaion, Irish Arts Center, Merce Cunningham Trust, Dublin City Council, Culture Ireland, Dance Ireland
A Note from John Scott
As a young dancer in Ireland, I was inspired reading about Merce Cunningham and John Cage and their writings and experimentation. When I eventually saw the company live in 1997, I was stunned by Merce’s movement language, humor, use of space, emotional power, and integrity. For Begin Anywhere, Roaratorio inspired me to use a central element of ‘duets’ or ‘pairings’ of dancers—the pairs merging into lines, clumps, and circles moving continuously through the space shared with the four musicians, like a society connecting, dissolving and reforming in new ways.
—John Scott
A Note from Mel Mercier
Performing John Cage and Merce Cunningham’s Roaratorio in the 1980s with my father and a group of Irish traditional musicians turned my known musical world inside out. Not only were we plunged into the deep end of the avant-garde, we also encountered contemporary dance—and contemporary dancers—for the first time. The whole experience radicalized my sense of what it might mean to be a musician, to be an artist. Begin Anywhere takes its inspiration from the lives and work of Cage and Cunningham. The soundscore, which is co-created with a trio of wonderful improvising musicians, finds its emotional grounding in the voices of many of the original Roaratorio dancers as they reflect on their embodied experiences of Merce’s choreography and their relationships with him. For me, it is also a song for my father, Peadar Mercier, and for fellow Roaratorio frontiersmen Joe Heaney, Liam O’Flynn, Seamus Tansey, and Paddy Glackin.
—Mel Mercier
The Cast
François Malbranque is one of France’s rising start of contemporary dance. Born in Rom Northern France, from a young age, he developed an interest in Polish Folk Dance. He later studied at the Lille Conservatory and then was accepted to the Conservatoire Superieur National de Musique et de Danse de Paris. He obtained his diploma in 2021. Since graduating, Mr Malbranque has been working with major French choreographers Boris Charmatz, Dimitri Chamblas and Olga Dukhovna. @francois.mal
Magdalena Hylak is a dance artist based in the West of Ireland. She is currently touring nationally and internationally with John Scott-IMDT (IE) and Nacera Belaza (FR), with over 170 performances in 64 venues across 12 countries up to date.
Since 2021, she is developing her own body of work, where she questions the
notion of performance. At the core of her research is the movement and sound
outside of the question of style/genre or technique. Magdalena Hylak is the Galway Dance Artist in Residence for 2023-2025.
She is the recipient of funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, the Galway County
Council and the National Dance Residency Partnership. @magdalenahylak_dance
Boris Charrion is a French movement and performance artist. After studying contemporary dance in the regional conservatory of Lyon, he entered the National Superior Conservatory of Music and Dance of Lyon where he had the opportunity to broaden his artistic horizons, notably through various collaborations with musicians, graphists, composers and space designers. During his studies there, he has worked with different choreographers such as Eszter Salamon, DD Dorvillier, and Ashley Chen. He is currently a member of SUB.LAB.PRO The Ensemble Program in Budapest where he worked with Jenna Jalonen, Máté Mészáros and Barnaby Booth. @boris_chrrn
Vínicius Martins Araújo, a versatile dancer from Brazil, specializes in Jazz, Jazz Funk, Street Dance, Ballet, and Contemporary styles. He relocated to Ireland in 2024 and has been working with John Scott performing his choreographies, HYPERACTIVE and Actions (NOW). Vini has showcased his talent at Electric Picnic and Funtropolis and is currently teaching Jazz Funk and Femme Style at Drop Studios in Dublin. His diverse experience reflects a strong commitment to dance and artistic expression. @vini_maraujo
Adam O’Reilly is a Dance Artist from Dublin Ireland. Working professionally since 2018 Adam has worked in various contexts of dance and movement works, Including Theatre, Film and Live Performance, both as a Dancer/ Performer and an emerging Choreographer. Adam most recently performed in ‘This Solution’ Directed by Shaun Dunne & Choreographed by Jessie Thompson for Dublin Theatre Festival 2023, The Irish Modern Dance Theatre production of ‘HYPERPHYSICAL’ for Dublin Fringe Festival 2024 Choreographed by John Scott and Abby Z, The Dance Limerick production of ‘Of The People’ Choreographed by Catherine Young for Step Up 2024, and the Irish Modern Dance Theatre production of ‘Hyperactive’ as performed in 5 Lamps Festival Dublin, Livorno Italy & Sarzau France in 2024 Choreographed by John Scott. Adam has recently began the development of his practice as an emerging dance maker via supports and residences from The Arts Council, Fingal County Council, Dance Ireland, Garter Lane Theatre & Project Arts Centre. Adam is Currently researching a new dance work with collaborators around themes of Youth Culture in Ireland for future presentation. @adamoreilly__
Caoimhe Ní Fhlatharta is a singer and multi-instrumentalist from the village of Ardmore in Connemara. Growing up in a village steeped in the Irish culture, Caoimhe developed a love for the Irish tradition early on in life. Following in the footsteps of her three brothers, she began tin whistle lessons and learned her first sean-nós song at the age of four. Broadening her musical abilities in later years, she picked up the fiddle and concertina while at the same time developing the sean-nós singing style native to her area and experimenting with other genres. As part of sibling duo 'Séamus & Caoimhe', she appeared on various stage and television productions including Other Voices, The Heart of Saturday Night and The RTÉ Concert Orchestra.The pair are the recipients of the RTÉ Folk Award for ‘Best Emerging Artists 2024’. @caoimhe_nif
Mick O’Shea is a member and director of the Cork Artists Collective and The Guesthouse Project www.theguesthouse.ie and has been instrumental in establishing a vibrant and growing sound art scene in Cork city. In 2006 he formed The Quiet Club with Danny McCarthy and in 2010 he formed the 5 piece Strange Attractor. He has performed with Rhodri Davies, The Quiet Music Ensemble, John Godfrey, Rajesh Meta, Pauline Oliveros, Karen Power, Steve Roden, Damo Suzuki, David Toop, Stephen Vitiello Iarla Ó Lionáird and Jennifer Walshe and has performed in UK, EU, Norway, Tasmania, USA, China and Japan. @mickos33
Kevin McNally is an Irish musician with particular interests in Javanese Gamelan, guitar and community music. As a performer he has played in traditional Irish music bands and rock bands, more recently leads a community music project that encourages participatory music sessions in rural areas. He has over twenty years’ experience as music educator and workshop facilitator, creating concerts, installations and film soundtracks. He is co-director of the Clonakilty International Guitar Festival and assistant director of the Irish Gamelan Orchestra. He teaches Central Javanese Gamelan performance courses in University College Cork and University ofLimerick. www.kevinmcnallymusic.com @kevinceol
Creative Team
John Scott Dublin born, choreographer, performer, founder/Artistic Director of
John Scott Dance, Dancer from the Dance Festival and member of Aosdána, an
Irish affiliation of Ireland’s 250 most outstanding creative artists under the
patronage of President Michael D Higgins. He studied and performed at Irish
National College of Dance/Dublin City Ballet 1982 – 85 in works by Anton Dolin,
Anna Sokolow, Pearl Gaden and Babil Gandara. His choreographic works include
‘Migration Sonata’, ‘Heroes’,‘Evolutions’ ‘Dances for Inside and Outside’, Divine
Madness’, ‘Inventions’, ‘Cloud Study’, ‘Lear’, ‘Fall and Recover’, ‘Actions’
performed in Ireland and internationally at New York Live Arts, La MaMa, Danspace Project at St Mark’s Church, PS 122, New York and Dance Base, Edinburgh, Festival Racconti di Altre Danze, Italy, l’Espace Culturel Hermine, Centre Culturel Irlandais, France, Sounded Bodies Festival and Queer Zagreb, Croatia, Les Hivernales, Avignon, Tanzmesse Dusseldorf, Forum Cultural Mundial, Brazil. He dances in Oona Doherty’s Hard to be Soft, and danced in Meredith Monk’s Quarry and for Yoshiko Chuma, Sarah Rudner, Anna Sokolow, Chris Yon and Thomas Lehmen. John was awarded African Refugee Network’s Culture Award for his work with Refugees and Survivors of Torture and is a subject of Sadlers Wells’ 52 Portraits by Jonathan Burrows, Matteo Fargion and Hugo Glendinning. He has taught at Irish World Academy, University of Limerick, The Body in Performance, Drama Department NUIG and at Drexel University, Philidelphia. @johnscottdance
Mel Mercier is a multi-disciplinary, award-winning, Tony-nominated artist with an international reputation as a performer, composer and sound designer. Renowned as an innovative musician, rooted in traditional music, he is committed to collaborating across artforms, music genres and traditions. Mel is director of the Irish Gamelan Orchestra, which released its debut album The Three Forges to critical acclaim in August 2015. In January 2019, his album of theatre scores, Testament, was released on Heresy Records. He is director of the Irish Gamelan Orchestra, MÓNCKK new music ensemble, and PULSUS, the first Irish traditional percussion ensemble. He was Lecturer/Professor of Music at University College Cork, Ireland, from 1992 to 2016, and Professor/inaugural Chair of Performing Arts at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland from 2016 to 2022. Mel has created music for theatre and dance in Ireland and internationally for twenty-five years, during which time he has worked regularly with leading artists, including Fiona Shaw, Deborah Warner, Phyllida Lloyd, Corcadorca Theatre Company, Gare St Lazare Ireland and Irish Modern Dance Theatre. He has composed the music for many critically acclaimed theatre and dance productions that have been presented at theatres and venues in Ireland, the UK, Europe and America. In addition, his large-scale installation projects include: Arcadia, a sound and light installation celebrating nature poetry created with Deborah Warner for Manchester International Festival 2021; Peace Camp: A Coastal Installation, a sound and light installation celebrating love poetry created with Warner and actor Fiona Shaw, and commissioned by London 2012: Cultural Olympiad. @melmercier2271
Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) was a celebrated dancer and choreographer renowned for his groundbreaking work and his profound influence on generations of dancemakers and artists. Born in Centralia, Washington, he attended the Cornish School in Seattle where he was introduced to the work of Martha Graham and met the composer John Cage who would become his closest collaborator and life partner. In 1939, Cunningham began a six-year tenure as a soloist in the Graham company, and soon began presenting his own choreography. In the summer of 1953, during a teaching residency at Black Mountain College, Cunningham formed a dance company to explore his innovative ideas. Over the course of his seventy-year career he choreographed 180 dances and over 700 Events, premiering his final work at age ninety. The Merce Cunningham Dance Company remained in continuous operation until its closure in 2011, giving nearly three thousand performances in over forty countries. In collaboration with John Cage, Cunningham proposed a series of radical ideas including the separation of music and dance, the use of chance operations, and novel ways to utilize film and technology. He collaborated with such renowned artists and composers as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, David Tudor, Christian Wolff, and Takehisa Kosugi. Cunningham earned some of the highest honors bestowed in the arts including a MacArthur Fellowship (1985), a Kennedy Center Honor (1985), a Laurence Olivier Award (1985), the National Medal of Arts (1990), and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale (2005). In 2004, he was named Officier of the Legion d’Honneur. Today Cunningham’s work continues to be performed by professional and student dancers worldwide. @mercetrust
Joe Levasseur (Lighting Designer) has collaborated with many artists including: Pavel Zuštiak/Palissimo, John Jasperse, Sarah Michelson, Jodi Melnick, Jennifer Monson, Neil Greenberg, and Beth Gill. He lit both Wendy Whelan's 2013 breakout Restless Creature, and her subsequent collaboration with Brian Brooks Some of a Thousand Words (2016). He has received two ‘Bessie’ awards (including one with Big Dance Theater) and a Knight of Illumination Award for his work on Meredith Monk’s Cellular Songs. When not designing, Levasseur also engages in a visual art practice. Instagram: @sirjoelevasseur / www.joelevasseur.com
John King is a composer, guitarist and violist who has worked collaboratively with and been commissioned by Kronos Quartet, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, String Noise, Bang On A Can All-Stars and Avant Media; as well as by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Mannheim Ballett, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Würzburg Ballet and Ballet BC. He has written several operas: ping and what is the word, with texts by Samuel Beckett; impropera, using randomly selected text msg’s from the singers’ cell phones; herzstück/heartpiece, with text by Heiner Müller; la belle captive with texts by Alain Robbe-Grillet; and Dice Thrown, based on the Stéphane Mallarmé poem, as well as his most recent SapphOpera, using fragments of Sappho’s poetry. At Knockdown Center in October 2018 he premiered his 4-hour long KOSMOS for string quartet and live electronics. King has worked on five installation/productions with CultureHub involving telematic performance practices. He was Co-Director of the Music Committee for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 2003 until MCDC’s closing at the end of 2011. He is the recipient of the 2009 Alpert Award in the Arts for Music and the 2014 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award for Sound/Music. King has also been awarded a Rockefeller Foundation/Bellagio Residency for March 2016, in addition to residencies at The McDowell Colony and The Emily Harvey Foundation residency in Venice, Italy. johnkingmusic.com @kingbee999
Press
Begin Anywhere:
'It's like your daughter was told her dress wouldn't arrive until the day of the wedding - but it's a Dior!' - The Irish Times
'Just back from a dress rehearsal of this impressive show....Definitely grab a ticket and go! John Scott Dance and Mel Mercier: Begin Anywhere - The Irish Arts Center' - Eva Yaa Asantewaa, dance writer
'Wonderful performance. Seeds of explosions amidst collective actions' - Wendy Perron, former editor of Dance Magazine
'Scott's dance revels in spontaneity, too, both in timing
and in movement'
'the dancers ......... run, leap, and fall to the floor,
spontaneously weaving in and out of relationships'
'The dancers are powerful, athletic movers, and Scott's
use of space could be hypnotizing' - Cecilia Whalen, Fjord Magazine
Thank You
IMDT would like to thank their 2024/2025 patrons:
Aideen Barry, Zahra Belyea, Greta Bourke, Nathalie Cazaux, Joan Davis, Terry Fox, John Fuller, Fiona Galvin, Maeve Hartmann, Jennifer Howard, Jeanette Keane, Dara Kelly, Robert Lawson, Emmet Lyons, James Reynolds, Antonia Stevens, Amy Swanson, Laurie Uprichard
Irish Modern Dance Theatre would also like to thank Sophie Motley, Orla Moloney, and everyone at the Project Arts Centre; Lisa McLoughlin, Elaine Connelly, Adele Kirwin, Victoria O’Brien and the Arts Council dance team; Aidan Connolly. Rachael Gilkey and the staff at Irish Arts Center, NYC; Rashaun Mitchell, Patricia Lent, and the staff at the Merce Cunningham Trust; Ray Yeates and the staff in the Dublin City Council Arts Office; Dublin City Council; Sheila Creevey, Louise Costelloe and everyone at Dance Ireland; Aoife Curry, Marcela Parducci, and the staff at St. Patrick's Festival; Sharon Barry, Ciaran Walsh and the staff at Culture Ireland, our US board : Maureen McSherry, Paul Langland, Aran Maree and Carleigh Welsh of Friends of Irish Modern Dance Theatre and our Irish Board: Mike Walker (Chair), Immaculate Akello, Amy Corrigan, Jennifer Howard, Siobhan O’Malley, Cheryl Therrien.