Country OK Residency

Led by choreographer Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín, Country OK is a dance performance project inspired by the foot-tapping, hip-twisting, heart-wrenching songs of Country music - a live celebration of the spirit of social dances, dance halls and dancing bodies.

In 2026 County OK tours to Kerry, West Cork, Tipperary and Limerick inviting participants from each location to brush off their boots and join in. Ahead of the tour Siobhán and the creative team will be in residence to prepare for taking the show on the road.

Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín is a dance artist from Cork, the primary focus of her work is on place-based and site-specific dance film and live performance. Siobhán enjoys a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach and has created work with sean-nós singers, poets, geologists, boat-builders and visual artists. Her main curiosities include; multi-lingual working environments, intergenerational gatherings, community structures and finding ways to connect through the body to our surroundings. She often asks ‘why do people dance?’

Participation is a key strand of Siobhán's work, her intention is to facilitate performance projects that give people from all walks of life the opportunity to dance and perform. Most recently she directed and facilitated Country OK, a participatory project with an intergenerational cast of 22 dancers, which premiered in Cork Midsummer Festival 2024. Siobhán’s work has been shown nationally and internationally including at Dublin Dance Festival, Tipperary Dance Platform, Echo Echo Festival of Movement and Dance, Dance Limerick, Folkestone Fringe (UK), Florida State University (USA) and Kaunas Biennial (LT).

Siobhán trained at Northern School of Contemporary Dance (UK) and subsequently completed a Masters in Contemporary Dance Performance, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance graduating in 2012. She has performed with Joan Davis, Jessie Keenan, Junk Ensemble, Laura Murphy, Mary Nunan and Mary Wycherley. Siobhán was also a member of Croí Glan Inclusive Dance Company performing works by Fearghus Ó Conchúir and David Bolger. Siobhán is an Arts Council Next Generation Award recipient. She was Associate Artist at Dance Limerick and the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick (2021-2022). She often works bi-lingually in Irish and English and was Dance Artist in Residence, Ionas Cultúrtha an Dochtúir Ó Loingsigh 2018-2020.

Director/Choreographer Siobhán Ní Dhuinnín (in collaboration with the dancers)
Dancers Grace Cuny, Molly Kelly, Sarah Ryan, Amir Sabra (with an inter-generational cast of dancers in each tour location)
Music Members of The Tan Jackets; Solamh Kelly, Cathal MacGabhann and Caoilian Sherlock, with Robbie Barron
Lighting Design Ronan O'Shea
Costumes Wayward & Co.
Dramaturgical Support Pan Pan Theatre Company
Producer Mags Keohane
Production Manager Hanan Sheedy
Photography Clare Keogh
Graphic Design Imagination Designs

Country Ok was commissioned by Cork Midsummer Festival, funded by the Arts Council, and supported by Dance Cork Firkin Crane, Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, Cumas Ceantar Uíbh Ráthach, Tipperary Dance and Dance Limerick