Chantal McCormick
Creative Director / CEO - Fidget Feet
Chantal McCormick is the creative director and CEO of Fidget Feet, an aerial dance company, which she started in 1998. In 2010, with An Grianán Theatre Company and Donegal County Council, Fidget Feet founded the Irish Aerial Dance Fest – one of the largest aerial festivals in Europe. In 2013 Fidget Feet were awarded an Arthur Guinness Project award for the Irish Aerial Creation Centre, which is Ireland’s first purpose-built aerial dance centre. It partners with Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and offers the only aerial dance course to third level students in Ireland. Recent productions include ‘Bingo Wings’ ‘A Handful of Dreams’ and ‘Hatch’. They have also recently made an aerial dance film entitled ‘St Patrick in the Sky – Abduction from on High’.
Full Episode
In our conversation Chantal speaks about combining aerial work and dance. She also talks about the impact of those who have inspired her in her career and the importance of knowing that it is not just technique and practice that make a good performer but also the emotion, the heart and the passion that one brings to the performance.
We hope that you enjoy!
Questions to support listening
Pre-listening
Q. Do you have a hobby or interest that you are extremely passionate about? When thinking about that hobby or interest, who inspires you and why do they inspire you to pursue your hobby or interest?
Q. Do you consider circus to be an important art form? Why/why not?
Q. What do you think of when you hear the term ‘aerial dance’?
While listening
Q. Chantal tells us about her journey as an artist. What did you learn about her training and her profession that you found interesting and/or surprising? (Choose two things)
Q. Chantal speaks about the importance of trust when working with others. Do you think trust is important when working with other people? Why/why not? Can you think of ways in which you can build trust within a group so they work well together?
Q. Chantal speaks about the importance of bringing joy to an audience and she says that it is important that an aerialist is highly trained and adept but that they must also bring their heart and creativity to their work. Can you think of an example where someone brings both their skills and passion to their work? How important to their success is it that the person is passionate about what they are doing and why? (You can choose an example from your own life or from someone you know).
After listening
Q. What did you learn from this podcast that you found interesting and/or surprising? Why did this interest and/or surprise you?
Q. Collaborating and working as a team is key to Chantal McCormick’s work in Fidget Feet. Can you think of an example of where it has been very important for you to work as part of a team? When you think of that situation consider what it is that made that an effective team / less effective team?
Q. In the podcast Chantal Mc Cormick explains how she uses the W.B. Yeats poem ‘The Stolen Child’ to inspire her new show. Choose a sport or a physical activity (like dance, drama, circus, a sport etc.) and find a song, a poem or a story that you could use to illustrate that art form better. You might like to make a poster, a crafted piece, a video, an infographic, a presentation or you might like to use the piece of text to accompany a demonstration of the sporting skill or performance.
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