The British Council’s ongoing partnership with the International Dance Festival Ireland has given Irish audiences the opportunity to see some of the best UK dance companies and choreographers in recent years. Irish premieres by the Michael Clark Company, Akram Khan, Rosemary Butcher, Sonia Sabri, Jasmin Vardimon, New Art Club and Jonathan Burrows were followed by sell-out performances and the European premiere of DV8’s Just For Show, as the first out-of-festival special event.

In 2006, it was the turn of Nigel Charnock to grab Irish audiences attention with his astonishing performance of Frank at Project Arts Centre, a stage which ‘isn’t big enough to hold him’ (Irish Times). He was joined on this year’s International Dance Festival programme by the Charles Linehan Dance Company, a choreographer whose ‘voice satisfies the rational sense and beguiles the irrational (Irish Times).

As an added bonus, Dance Theatre of Ireland have invited Charles Linehan to recreate his signature work, Grand Junction, with the Company later this year so Irish audiences will have a second opportunity to see his work described by Dance Now as ‘deeply sensuous, pure magic’. www.dancetheatreireland.com