Taking steps

As DanceHouse's birthday festivities kick off in Dublin, Michael Seaversuggests that dance is both a trendy pastime and a great way to keep fit

There's never been a better time to head off to dance class. First of all, it's fashionable, what with those Strictly Come Dancingand Jigs'n'Reelscelebrities shimmying around our television screens every weekend. Secondly, it's a less boring way of dealing with that well-intentioned New Year's resolution to get fit and supple. And finally, if you are near DanceHouse in Dublin city centre tomorrow and Thursday, you can go along to the free taster dance classes that are part of the building's first birthday festivities as well as informal performances, dance screenings, open rehearsal and a photographic exhibition.

The petty squabbles over usage policy that brewed before DanceHouse opened its doors are long forgotten and the first year has been an almost unqualified success according to chief executive Paul Johnson.

"Over 26,000 people have walked through the door so far," he says. "Not just for rehearsals and classes, but for exhibitions, launches and other events."

When DanceHouse was mooted there were mutterings in the arts community that it would become a white elephant, the dance sector unable to provide sufficient demand for the six studios, which were destined to become rehearsal spaces for theatre companies.

With a backdrop of failed cultural centres in Temple Bar and a traditionally disparate dance scene, it wasn't an altogether outlandish prediction, but DanceHouse has quickly become a thriving centre for Dublin's independent dance scene. Operating at 80 per cent capacity for daytime rehearsal rentals and 100 per cent capacity for its evening classes, it has met the twin targets of remaining open seven days a week and becoming a multifaceted space.

The figures are qualitative and that's great," says Johnson. "But the fact that we have such a range of activity means it has become a home for all forms of dance."

In the various studios before Christmas were Scottish choreographer Ross Cooper as part of an international exchange project, Irish Modern Dance Theatre rehearsing its new work, independent choreographer Ursula Mawson Raffalt creating a new work thanks to DanceHouse's Incubator programme, Celebrity Jigs'n'Reelscontestants speed-learning for their charity event, and Irish National Youth Ballet preparing for its January show at the O'Reilly Theatre.

EVENING CLASSES ARE equally varied and the front door was opened 13,000 times by people coming to class last year. This week's taster classes will help newbies choose between ballet and Pilates, Aikido and salsa or bellydancing and Gyrokinesis®. "It's [ Gyrokinesis®], the latest exercise system, that is going to create the same amount of fuss as Pilates," promises teacher Ríonach Ní Néill, also a dancer and choreographer. "It is as popular as Pilates in the United States and continental Europe at the moment."

Often called "yoga for dancers", it is based on yoga, swimming, tai chi and dance. The hour-long classes begin with exercises sitting on a stool that are based on natural movements such as arching, curving, spiralling, and moving horizontally and vertically. It's these natural movements that make it ideal for people of all fitness levels and all stages of life.

"It's very gentle, but very effective," says Ní Néill. "I did it until a day before my baby was born and was practising it again a week afterwards."

But don't exercise disciplines fall in and out of fashion and aren't people always looking for the latest fad?

"Most exercise systems are a synthesis of different disciplines," she says. "So yes, in 10 years' time there will be something new, because our understanding of the body and mind are constantly developing. The Pilates I trained in 15 years ago was the classical Alan Herdman Pilates, but since then anatomists, physiotherapists and dancers have merged their knowledge and it has evolved."

In contrast, Gyrokinesis® was created and devised by one man - Juliu Horvath - and is strictly managed by Gyrotonic Sales Corporation, based in the US. It doesn't just oversee meticulous training and certification courses for teachers, but controls every aspect of the discipline down to the name, which is registered as a trademark. As the only certified practitioner in Ireland, Ní Néill will introduce Gyrotonics® next year, a related technique that uses special machines with pulleys and weights to add resistance to the exercises.

Pilates doesn't have such control. In 2000, a US court ruled that the term "Pilates" was generic and couldn't be solely used by qualified Pilates instructors. This led to many untrained trainers offering classes and a lack of clarity around accreditation.

"There are some chancers out there, but all you can do is offer a good class and hope that people will come back," says Pilates instructor Paul Clancy, who also offers an Ashtanga yoga class. His background in dance funnels through to his class and his Pilates sessions incorporate release technique - a dance form that utilises the body's natural movements rather than learned movement. DanceHouse has offered him independence from commercial studios and the dreaded cold church halls.

"You were either working for the owner of a small studio, who was up to their eyeballs in debt or in a cold old hall," he says. "The small studios at DanceHouse are the perfect size for Pilates and yoga."

It's DanceHouse's largest studio - 175 square metres - that is the attraction for Lia Mullins, teacher of the "Strictly Come Dancing" classes for children and adults. Those in search of a bit more glam with their exercise can go to the adult class where they'll get the basics of five ballroom and Latin American dances over 10 weeks. Although once hugely popular in Ireland, ballroom dancing has needed the recent television hype to regain its appeal.

"It's becoming popular all over Europe as well," says Mullins. "In Poland every town will have five or six studios. They are like McDonald's." Television has also brought men back into the fold and there is a healthy proportion of boys at the children's classes. "Some couples come together and the social side of ballroom dancing is really important," she adds.

Paul Johnson admits that the range of classes has surprised many people.

"There was probably a perception that we would just offer ballet and contemporary dance classes," he says. "But our policy has always been to respond to the level of diversity that is out there." He credits general manager Sian Cunningham and the reception team of Brenda Crea and Glenn Montgomery for the diverse evening class programme which has operated on a non-elitist, first-come first-severed, basis.

AN IMPORTANT PART of DanceHouse's jigsaw was completed with the installation of a lighting rig and drapes in the largest studio, thanks to a capital grant from the Arts Council. "It will be a huge step in developing choreographic practice because it allows people to work with sophisticated lighting equipment as part of their creative process," says Johnson. It means that choreographers who attend light designer Eric Wurtz's workshop in January will be able to return to the studio at a later date and experiment with what they have learned. "It's about joining up our dots," says Johnson. "Finding the links between the choreographic development and performance." The lighting rig will also mean that work developed in the studio can be seen in a more sophisticated theatrical setting.

And looking ahead to the next year? "I'd have to use that hackneyed phrase 'consolidation'," says Johnson. DanceHouse is developing an ethos that respects every aspect of dance. "Long may that continue," he concludes.

Details from Dance Ireland, 01-8558800, www.danceireland.ie