Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
Dr Aoife McGrath, BA(Hons)Trinity College Dublin, PhD Trinity College Dublin, FHEA, Staatlich Geprüfte Tänzerin (Bühnentanz), Univeristy of Performing Arts, Munich (Heinz Bosl Stiftung).
Senior Lecturer in Drama
SWAN Co-Champion AEL
Co-President of the Irish Society for Theatre Research
Research Interests and Projects
My research interests include dance, practice as research, interdisciplinary and collaborative creative processes, performance and philosophy, and cultural and affect studies. After a professional dance career in Germany and Ireland, I have worked as a choreographer, director, community dance and theatre facilitator, critic, and as Dance Advisor for the Irish Arts Council.
I am a PaR scholar and choreographer who engages in practice-based choreographic research, critical dance scholarship, and dance engagement and advocacy work. I am currently involved in a number of interdisciplinary, collaborative research projects with researchers in sociology, psychology and the health sciences.
My Dance and the Maternal project encompasses performance projects that communicate experiences of maternal corporealities. Examples include my collaboration with psychologist Dr Jen Hanratty (QUB, CESI) on a dance performance project that communicates women's experiences of breastfeeding (Let Down), and a project with choreographer and dancer Aisling McCormick exploring women's experience of time in pregnancy (Within). I am currently working on a Future Screens/AHRC funded project with filmmaker, Dee Harvey, and mathematician, Henry Segerman, exploring the communication of women's experience of post-natal depression in 360 film (Impossible Worlds).
I am also working on a project experimenting with mixed-methods research combining dance and sociology in collaboration with sociologists Dr Tori Durrer (UCD) and Dr Pete Campbell (University of Liverpool). This project explores how the integration of embodied knowledge through "danced surveys" with more traditional survey methods might provide insight into artists' lived experience and artistic practice and processes. Most recently, the Dance Conversations (2021) project included the creation of a documentary film in collaboration with 6 dance artists from both sides of the Irish border co-directed with Mary Wycherley, featuring an original score by Jürgen Simpson and funded by an award from the Cooperation with Northern Ireland Funding Scheme of the Department for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
I am the NI research partner for a Shared Island project, Buidling Capacity for the Cultural Industries: a Shared Island approach, led by Victoria Durrer (UCD). This cross-border research project funded by Department of An Taoiseach, Shared Island Unit, in partnership with Irish Research Council New Foundations Scheme involves collaboration with project partners Arts Council Northern Ireland; Irish Theatre Institute; Theatre and Dance NI; Cavan County Council Arts Office.
I am also currently working with post-doctoral fellow, Shonagh Hill, on the H2020 Marie Curie "Intergenerational Feminisms" project, which involves collaboration with a diverse range of female Northern Irish Theatre practitioners, and public engagement activities with the Linen Hall Library and Maiden Voyage Dance Company.
Recent arts policy and advocacy work includes the commission from Dance Ireland, Dance Limerick and Dublin Dance Festival to facilitate a series of Think Tank conversations with a broad range of stakeholders in the dance industry across the island of Ireland. The final report provides a roadmap for the sector and for the development of new dance policy in Ireland:Aoife McGrath, Dance Think Tanks Report, (Dublin: Dance Ireland, 2021). https://www.danceireland.ie/content/pubs/DanceThinkTank_2020_Report.pdf
Publications
My book publications include my monograph, Dance Theatre in Ireland: Revolutionary Moves (Palgrave, 2013) and the co-edited collection Dance Matters in Ireland: contemporary dance performance and practice (Palgrave, 2018). I have also published numerous book chapters and articles, and have been commissioned to write industry reports for the dance sector.
Most Recent / Forthcoming Publications:
Aoife McGrath, Prarthana Purkayastha, Marcus Tan and Tereza Havelkova (eds.), 'Sounding Corporeality', special issue, Theatre Research International (CUP), 46.2 (2021).
Aoife McGrath, 'Sounding a Quietening: breastfeeding choreographies and the sonic-corporeal dialogue of maternal experience', in 'Sounding Corporeality', Theatre Research International, 46.2 (2021)
Aoife McGrath, Victoria Durrer and Peter Campbell, 'Dancing with Epistemic Borders: knowledge and unknowns in mixed-methods PaR collaborations between dance and social science', in Hetty Blades, Scott deLahunta, and Lucia Piquero, Performance Research, 26.2 (2022).
Recent Choreographic / Directing Work:
Dance Conversations (2021), a cross-border film about dance artists' living and working conditions on the island of Ireland, co-created with Yumi Lee, Aisling McCormick, Maeve McGreevy, Kelly Quigley, Laurie Schneider, Maria Svensson, co-directed by Aoife McGrath and Mary Wycherley, edited by Mary Wycherley, original composition by Jürgen Simpson. In partnership with Dance Ireland and Theatre and Dance Northern Ireland and funded by an award from the Cooperation with Northern Ireland Funding Scheme of the Department for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Let Down, a dance theatre piece about women's experiences of breastfeeding incorporating sociological research on breastfeeding in Northern Ireland. Choreographed and performed by Aoife McGrath and Paula O'Reilly, original sound score by Sorca McGrath, dramaturgy by Emily DeDakis, commissioned by Dr Jennifer Hanratty (QUB) for Breastival 2018, and breastfeeding research by Dr Maria Herron (UU). Performances co-produced and funded by Being Human Festival (AHRC/British Academy), Breastival Belfast, and Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts and Film Festival (performances August to December 2018).
Within: Body + Time, a dance solo exploring the experience of time in pregnancy (co-choreographed and performed by Aisling McCormick, videography by Richard Lavery, produced by Emily Dedakis), produced as part of the Rapid Response platform by Accidental Theatre Belfast, 2018.
Please, a dance theatre work about the experiences of women struggling with eating disorders (performed by Leonie McDonagh, original composition by Marty Byrne, text by Emily DeDakis, research by Dr Carolyn Blair (QUB)), Northern Ireland Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, Brian Friel Theatre, Belfast, 2017.
Supervision and Mentoring:
I am interested in supervising research students working in the areas of dance studies, practice as research, dance and the maternal, movement practices and performance, and collaborative creative processes.
Current PhD students:
Chloe Hillyar, 'Including the Maternal Body: investigating the inclusion of maternal dancers into the UK professional dance sector' (1st Supervisor)
Aisling McCormick, 'Performing Arts and Maternal Health: an investigation into collaborations between artists and maternity health services' (1st supervisor)
Elien Hanselaer, 'A study of actor-actor performance connection' (1st supervisor)
Argyro Tsampazi, 'The use of Terzopoulos' Method and Greek Rituals in Choreography' (1st supervisor)
Maggie Cronin, 'What are the lived experiences and unique challenges faced by women working within the theatre industry in Northern Ireland? A practice-as-research enquiry', (1st supervisor)
Graduated PhD students:
Dr Paula Guzzanti, 'Embodied Consciousness and Affect in Movement-based Improvisation Practices' (1st supervisor)
Dr Caitriona Reilly, ‘Postfeminism and British and Irish Theatre’ (2nd supervisor)
Achievements
Selected Awards
Being Human Individual Award (AHRC/BA) (2018)
Faculty Research Initiative Award (2018)
Faculty Research Initiative Award (2017)
Irish Society for Theatre Research New Scholar's Prize (2011)
TaPRA Essay Competition Prizewinner (2010)
Society of Dance History Scholars Travel Award (2009)
IRCHSS (Government of Ireland) Research Scholarship (2008, 2009)
Trinity College Dublin Gold Medal (2007)
Trinity College Dublin Scholar (2005-2010)
DAAD Research Scholarship (Freie Universtaet Berlin) (2004-2005)
Teaching
DRA3060 Dance Theatre
DRA3025 Dissertation
DRA2005 Introduction to Devising
DRA1003 Introduction to Performing
DRA1004 Introduction to Contemporary Performing Practices
DRA3006 Advanced Theatre Practice (mentor for directors)
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Network
Projects
- 2 Active
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R6646AEL: Generational Feminisms in Contemporary Northern Irish Performance
19/03/2020 → …
Project: Research
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Dancing with Epistemic Borders: Knowledge and unknowns in mixed-methods Practice-as-Research (PaR) collaborations between dance and social science
McGrath, A., Durrer, V. & Campbell, P., 03 Mar 2022, In: Performance Research. 26, 4, p. 95-103 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Downloads (Pure) -
Buchbesprechung / Book Review: Dance and Modernism in Irish and German Literature and Culture. Connections in Motion
McGrath, A., 01 Nov 2021, Germanistik in Ireland:Jahrbuch der / Yearbook of the Association of Third-Level Teachers of German in Ireland. Special Issue: “The Right Blend” – Mischung, Überblendung und Identität in interkulturellen Kontexten. Hartung Gorre Verlag, Vol. 16. p. 245-246 2 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Open AccessFile2 Downloads (Pure) -
Dance Think Tanks Report
McGrath, A., 18 Mar 2021, Dance Ireland. 29 p.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
Open AccessFile11 Downloads (Pure) -
Sounding a Quietening: breastfeeding choreographies and the sonic-corporeal dialogue of maternal experience
McGrath, A., 28 Jul 2021, In: Theatre Research International. 46, 2, p. 148-168 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile18 Downloads (Pure) -
Sounding Corporeality
McGrath, A., Tan, M., Purkayastha, P. & Havelkova, T., 28 Jul 2021, In: Theatre Research International. 46, 2, p. 107-260 154 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review
Prizes
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Co-recipient of Faculty Research Initiative Award to support the development of dance performance, Let Down
McGrath, Aoife (Recipient) & Hanratty, Jennifer (Recipient), 15 Dec 2017
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Elected Trinity College Dublin Scholar in Drama and German
McGrath, Aoife (Recipient), 01 May 2004
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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TaPRA International Essay Competition
McGrath, Aoife (Recipient), 2010
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
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First Fortnight Festival
Aoife McGrath (Chair)
13 Jan 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in Festival/Exhibition
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Theatre Research International (Journal)
Aoife McGrath (Peer reviewer)
03 Mar 2022Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Publication peer-review
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Consultant for Development Arts Council Ireland Dance Policy Document 2022
Aoife McGrath (Consultant)
20 Oct 2021Activity: Consultancy types › Work on advisory panel to industry or government or non-government organisation
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"Dancing Lives and Mental Health"
Aoife McGrath (Invited speaker)
16 Jan 2021Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Modes of Capture Symposium
Aoife McGrath (Chair)
22 May 2021Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
Press / Media
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Interviewed about my research of dance theatre in Ireland and provided expert comment on the work of Oona Doherty for the New York Times for a feature article 'From Northern Ireland, Dance as a ‘Physical Prayer’'
11/01/2022
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Interviewed about my Dance and the Maternal research project and quoted as expert in an article on parenting in dance in One Dance Magazine UK
15/10/2021
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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NVTV television interview about Co-Motion: Dance and Borders conference
24/10/2019
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Feature article by reporter Sarah Scott on Belfast Live: 'Queen's University Lecturer uses Dance to tell the stories of Breastfeeding Mums in Northern Ireland'
08/12/2018
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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BBC NI Arts Show review Let Down, a dance performance about breastfeeding mothers, as a "must see" show.
26/11/2018
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research