Shannon Dunne: Traditional Irish Music and Dance

Dancer/musician Shannon Dunne* and her collaborators present engaging, interactive programs based on their love of traditional music and dance. Their diverse talents – old style percussive and social dance, traditional song, and Irish tunes on a variety of instruments – are showcased through the story of their friendships and their adventures learning music in the days before YouTube. Shannon’s collaborative nature has seen her dance on stages across the globe with groups such as the Mick Moloney’s Celtic Appalachia, Kitchen Quartet, and Christylez Bacon’s Washington Sound Museum, and her choreography has been featured in the DC Christmas Revels and performed by companies including the Kieran Jordan Dancers, the Maldon Meehan Dancers, and the Teelin Irish Dance Company.

*Formerly Síneadh Fada

Shannon Dunne* is an acclaimed sean-nos (old style) Irish dancer, concertina player, and singer. Her work with master dancers has given her intimate access to this tight-knit dance community and has afforded her a place among the top sean-nós dancers in North America. Shannon Dunne’s talents and abilities have been recognized by many arts organizations, including the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has also worked alongside cultural community organizations such as the O’Neill-Malcom Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann as a dance director and works continuously to positively shape the future of Irish dance in the Mid-Atlantic region. She has danced on stages across the globe with groups such as the Mick Moloney’s Celtic Appalachia, Kitchen Quartet, Christylez Bacon’s Washington Sound Museum, as well as record with musicians such as DC-based ensemble Lilt. Her choreography has been featured by the Washington Revels and performed by various companies in the U.S. including the Kieran Jordan Dancers, the Maldon Meehan Dancers, and the Teelin Irish Dance Company.

Artist Website: Shannon Dunne

Virtual program options available – contact us for more information.

Performances

Spórt: Traditional Irish Music and Dance

Dancer/musician Shannon Dunne and her musical collaborators present engaging, interactive performances showcasing traditional Irish music and dance. The artists introduce old style percussive and social dances, traditional “sing-along” songs, and Irish tunes on instruments like concertina, harp, and fiddle. Audiences learn what it means to be a traditional musician/dancer, and experience a wide array of instruments, singing, and dancing through the stories of how Shannon and her friends learned, and continue to learn, within the tradition.“

Single $600/Back-to-back $750

Larger ensemble available – contact us for pricing and information.

Workshops

Spórt: Traditional Irish Music and Dance

Workshops – whether scheduled on their own, or as part of a series or residency – explore a variety of topics in music, dance, and performance skills and may be customized to supplement and enhance curriculum.

Please contact us for Workshop prices.

Additional travel fees apply.

More Details
Request a Program

Audience, Elementary School, Middle School, High School, Children & Families

Art Forms, Dance, Music

Program Type, Performance, Workshop, Residency

Curriculum/Theme, Language Arts, Social Studies, World Languages

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MISSION

Artivate engages communities to create interactive arts experiences that inspire learning.

We offer arts-based learning to motivate and invite audiences to participate through performances and workshops representing a wide range of artistic disciplines and cultural traditions in order to captivate the imagination and activate human potential. Through our focus on education, we enable access to the arts for all, particularly under-resourced communities, throughout Maryland, the District of Columbia, and northern Virginia.

HISTORY

Artivate was established in 1995 as Class Acts Arts, the educational outreach arm of the Institute of Musical Traditions, a Maryland non-profit focused on presenting concerts which preserve and promote American and international folk traditions. Founded by community arts activist, Busy Graham, Class Acts Arts served roughly 25,000 students and teachers with 80 school programs that first year, working with seven touring artists: dancers, storytellers and musicians. Now 25 years later, Artivate facilitates an average of 1,300 programs a year, reaching more than 200,000 children, teens and families at 250 sites across the Greater Washington, DC area, providing programs for libraries, community organizations, local theaters, town festivals, and correctional facilities, as well as schools. Designed in response to a demand for high quality, ethnically diverse cultural arts programs in schools, our roster has expanded to over 32 solo or ensemble artists, one-third of whom tour nationally, and now includes theater and visual arts. Many of the artists embody their cultural heritage, including artists from Argentina, Ecuador, India, Egypt, Ghana, Ukraine, and Quebec. In addition to our partnerships with dozens of professional artists and public and private schools, we collaborate with other arts education organizations and presenters such as Smithsonian Associates, Wolf Trap National Park for Performing Arts, Hylton Performing Arts Center, M-NCPPC’s Publick Playhouse, and other local theaters to develop programming and supplement tours.

In 2000, founder Graham designed and launched Project Youth ArtReach (PYA). Initially created to address the benefit of expressive outlets for incarcerated youth, PYA has grown from one detention site with only a handful of workshops to more than 300 programs per year at some six sites annually, and now engages detained men and women as well as teens. In addition to educational workshops in visual, literary and performing arts, we provide a variety of performances (20-25 per year) for larger groups inside some detention sites. Working with the Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation, the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, and The Choice Program of the Shriver Center at UMBC, Project Youth ArtReach has received local and national recognition for its excellent curriculum and meaningful impact.

Shannon Dunne: Traditional Irish Music and Dance

VISION

MISSION

HISTORY