Ciara Finnegan

b. 1974, N. Ireland

Excited by the brave proposition that generosity be the motivation behind ev+a 2006, I was moved to attempt an experiment. Social Turkey is a short digital dance video developed over a series of weekly meetings with a group of sprightly and defiant 60+ year olds resident in Limerick. Very early in the process, Jenny and I discovered each individual expressing not only a wonderful eagerness to perform and enthusiasm for dance, but a healthy refusal to assume the mantle of ‘old age’ and reluctance to submit to pressures to blanche their social presence with every added year. Each one of our dancers bears their seniority with dignity, but are also enormously vibrant personalities.

I was keen that this venture support an exchange of ideas rather than employ a top-down directorial structure. So, while Jenny devised the fundamentals of the dance and I manned the camera, each woman and man contributed thereafter – improvising on a step sequence, and collaborating on patterns which, ultimately, determined much of the look of the result.

The work seeks to amplify the represented interests of a wider community while celebrating the vivacity of the particular group and the sheer fun of our collaboration.

(Text: give(a)way catalogue, 2006)