Monica Muñoz - Development Week

Through a 2021 YPCE Commissions Award from the Arts Council, Draíocht is supporting Monica Muñoz create a new children’s dance piece 'Connect the Dots' (working title).

The creation of the piece includes working with sound artist, Sinead Diskin, 3 dancers and Dublin 15 primary school children. The timeframe of the commission is October 2021 to April 2022 and included a period of time for the lead artist to research methodologies around including the voice of the child in her work.

The commission will culminate with work in progress performances in Draíocht in April 2022 for the children we have worked with.

The week of January 31st 2022 will see Monica explore the themes of the piece with 3 dancers - Jessie Thompson, Donking Rongavilla and Tobi Bologun.

Photos: Declan Murphy

Monica Muñoz is a dancer, performance-maker and educator originally from Barcelona and based in Dublin since 2014. She graduated at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen/Germany and completed an MA in Dance Education at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. As a dancer she worked for over 20 years throughout Europe and performed across the globe with choreographers and companies such as: Tanztheater Heidelberg-Freiburg (GE), Cie Toula Limnaios (GE), Rui Horta (PT), Joachim Schloemer (GE), Cie Drift (CH), Konstantinos Rigos (GR), Tabea Martin (CH) and Public in Private (GE) among many others. She was nominated Upcoming Dancer by the magazine Ballet International/TanzAktuell.

In Ireland, she has collaborated frequently with CoisCéim Dance Theatre as performer, assistant and teacher. Monica is passionate about facilitating dance for all ages and abilities, from toddlers to elders and also professionals in education and community contexts. She has facilitated explorations into the creative body for Dance Ireland, Dance Limerick, the Creative Schools Programme, BA in Contemporary Dance at the University of Limerick, Dance Theatre of Ireland, Step Up Project and CoisCéim, amongst others. In 2018, she received the Docklands Arts Funds from Business to Arts to bring access to performances and dance workshops to schools from the Docklands area. Last year, Monica created Groovy Movers, a dance participation programme with young children and parents/caregivers supported by Dun Laoghaire County Council. Her dance show for young audiences, Princesses Can Be Pirates, has toured nationally to 12 venues supported by the Arts Council, and to Germany supported by Culture Ireland. Recently, The Ark selected her to participate in an artists’ lab as part of the PUSH+ Creative Europe project for artists working with young audiences. Currently she is undertaking a research period supported by the YPCE Bursary Award from the Arts Council about dance for and with children in the early years.