Tabernacle is a new choreography by Fearghus Ó Conchúir about the Catholic Church and the making of the Irish body. Tabernacle investigates authority, control and the individual search for purposeful living.
It was in church that I learnt the choreography of control, of symmetry, of awe, of spirituality. As congregation or as altar boy, I knew when to stand, when to kneel, when to offer my tongue or beat my breast. As a budding performer, I also learnt how to deliver that movement with grace, precision and reverence. Some time later, my relationship to the Church has changed. Social and economic development in Ireland had already weakened the very precise control over personal and social choreography that the Catholic Church had exercised. The discovery of the Church’s complicity in the abuse of young Irish bodies weakened its remaining moral authority. And yet, the Church continues to play a significant role in the life of the country, even for those who no longer acknowledge its authority. The church still manages to be a place where contemporary Ireland can be investigated and where the relationship between the contemporary and the traditional can be given form. Because I want in this choreography to model a way of organising ourselves that is more thoughtful, more open, more fruitfully challenging, it is important to me that Tabernacle is made in a way that allows into it many different voices and experiences.
- Fearghus Ó Conchúir
Tabernacle is produced by Fearghus Ó Conchúir in association with Project Arts Centre, with the support of the Arts Council of Ireland, Dance Ireland, Modul Dance and with funds from Dublin Dance Festival’s 2011 Co-production Initiative. Premiered at Project Arts Centre, Dublin as part of the 2011 Dublin Dance Festival.