Performance for Irish dancers

Irish dancing requires great physical skill and mental concentration, but it also requires artistic performance – something many Irish dancers struggle with. As Irish dancers we train our bodies and our minds to perform intricate steps with precision but we don’t always spend as much time preparing our performance. That’s why we’re so excited to welcome Claire Leger, choreographer and founding member of Xara Choral Theatre Group, to our studios.

Claire will be joining the competitive dancers on May 14 for a one hour workshop on performance. Dancers will work with Claire to find ways to add performance and artistry to their otherwise very technical routines, taking their dancing to the next level. We can’t wait to see the results and we know we’re in good hands with Claire whose experience, and personal love of Beyoncé, are a wonderful match for Rising Tide’s dancers.

Claire’s bio (taken from xara.ca)

Claire Leger is the choreographer as well as a founding member of Xara Choral Theatre. She specializes in integrating movement, theatre, and choral music to create new and innovative performance pieces. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Performance from the University of British Columbia, a BA (Hon.) in Theatre Studies from Dalhousie University and is a graduate of Neptune Theatre’s Pre-Professional Training Program.

Claire teaches choral singers how to sing with their whole bodies, incorporating exercises and concepts from physical theatre, dance, and yoga. She is a certified 200-hour hatha vinyasa yoga instructor and uses this practice to help singers release tension and develop self-awareness through body and breath. Claire’s choral singing experience is extensive and varied, including singing with the Halifax Camerata Singers and the Nova Scotia Youth Choir.

In 2012 Claire premiered her original chamber choral theatre work The Record of the Lonely House in Halifax and British Columbia. Recently in collaboration with the Canadian Chamber Choir, Claire co-created a piece for choir and solo performer, Icarus in the Sea, which has toured Nova Scotia, southern Ontario, and British Columbia. She has also collaborated with The Aeolian Singers, Zuppa Theatre Company, and DalTheatre, and teaches creative movement and yoga at the Nova Scotia Choral Federation’s “Sing Summer” camps.

Photo: Nick Rudnicki