True characters

DAVID BOLGER, choreographer, director and co-founder of CoisCéim

I first knew I wanted to dance when. . . I saw Gene Kelly dance in An American in Paris and Donald O'Connor run up the wall and do a backflip in his musical number Make them Laugh in Singing in the Rain.

Growing up in Dublin gave me the opportunity .. . to play on Sandymount Strand from morning till night during the summer. I also learned to swim both on the beach and the local pool. I didn't realise at the time that, 40 years later, I would be making a dance piece and performing with my mother, Madge (above).

The film Deep End Dance is about. . . the bond between mother and child. It's filmed as if the water is an environment in which we can both breathe. It reminds me what it must have felt like while we were in the womb.

I have my mother and father to thank .. . for allowing me to be who I wanted to be. Their encouragement and support is a direct effect on my dancing career and the kind of work I want to make with my company CoisCéim.

Teaching an actor to dance involves . . .patience, understanding and work. Most of the actors I have worked with at the Abbey Theatre or Druid have a huge understanding of movement and the stage picture and its importance in developing Irish theatre.

Bringing dance to an opera or play gives it .. . a voice. It's a dimension of story-telling that is pure, immediate and emotionally truthful.

I get inspired by .. . talented people who work hard to make great theatre and film.

The Bealtaine Festival is all about. . . celebrating creativity. I think the festival is one of the greatest things that Ireland has to offer.

My artistic hero is . . .I have many but the biggest dance impact I have ever felt was watching a performance with Pina Bausch performing in Café Müller, at the Sadler's Wells in London. Her emotional depth and honesty moved me to tears.

Dance can move us in a way that other arts don't because .. . it is vital, alive, transient and primal. We understood body language before we could talk and it was our first way of communication as children, so we understand it, even if we think that we don't. Body language is being spoken every day all around us.

The Irish attitude to our bodies is. . . getting better. I blame the amount of rain in Ireland, which makes us hunch over and battle the elements.

David and Madge Bolger’s stage duet Swimming with my Mother is in the Roscommon Arts Centre (May 10th), Longfords Backstage Theatre (May 12th) and the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire (May 14th). An open dance class for people aged 50+ will be held as part of each performance. See Coisceim.com or tel 01-8780558

In conversation with Catherine Cleary