Teaċ Daṁsa is a dance and theatre company rooted on the cliffs of the West Kerry Gaeltacht, creating work shaped by the wild energy of its surroundings.
Our work celebrates movement, music, and ritual, crafting transformative experiences that deepen connections with ourselves and bring us closer to each other.
Committed to empathy and authenticity, Teaċ Daṁsa has built a unique reputation for powerful and intimate performances that resonate globally—from Ireland’s Atlantic coast to stages across the world.
Teaċ Daṁsa is a home for dance.
A home where body, mind and spirit are interwoven. Where we work with rhythm and with great attention. Where we care for our thoughts and feelings. Where our time is well spent.
This home creates and transforms with kindness, friendship, and compassion. It affects the quality of the work.
Teaċ Daṁsa sustains dancers. It holds memories.
Michael Keegan-Dolan is the founder of Teaċ Daṁsa (est. 2016) and a leading voice in contemporary dance-theatre. Michael rose to acclaim as the artistic director of Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre (1997–2015). His work is raw, lyrical, and profoundly moving.
With Teaċ Daṁsa, he has continued to explore the power of collaboration and place through critically acclaimed productions, such as MÁM, How to be a Dancer in Seventy Two Thousand Easy Lessons, Nobodaddy and 1975 Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig.
A former associate artist at Sadler’s Wells and the Barbican Centre in London, Michael also teaches and leads workshops internationally, sharing his experience and creative practice with artists around the world.
Nuala O’Connor is a documentary film maker in the area of music and arts documentaries.She is a producer/curator of Ireland’s Edge, an event that runs alongside the annual Other Voices event in Dingle, south west Kerry, now in its 25th year.
Since 1987, when she and Philip King set up Hummingbird Productions, Nuala O’Connor has worked as a documentary film maker in the area of music and arts documentaries. Before that, she worked in RTE radio and television as a researcher and a radio producer. She worked as a researcher and writer on the ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ 6-part documentary series for BBC and RTE television, and authored the accompanying book. In 1994, she won an Emmy award for writing a one-hour version of Bringing It All Back Home for the Disney television channel.
Her extensive career includes producing and directing numerous critically acclaimed documentaries, such as ‘A River of Sound’, ‘Keeping Time – Poet & the Piper’ featuring Seamus Heaney, and feature documentaries on The Gloaming, Dónal Lunny, and Pauline Scanlon. In 2014, she worked as a scriptwriter and co-producer on the Ceiliuradh concert at the Royal Albert Hall celebrating the State Visit of President Higgins to the UK.
Appointed to the Teaċ Daṁsa board of directors in 2026.
Brendan started his career in 1979 as a dancing sailor in Derek Jarman’s film version of the Tempest. He worked for 10 years as a freelance dancer, performing with a number of independent dance companies before moving into management and then leadership roles. These roles have included serving as Director of Greenwich Dance and working as a Dance Officer at the Arts Council of England.
Brendan stepped down from his role as Artistic Director and Chief Executive of DanceEast in August 2025 after leading the organisation for 14 years. He has served on numerous Boards and Panels; he is currently Chair of the Bonnie Bird Choreographic Fund and a Governor of Suffolk New College.
He received the Jane Attenborough Dance UK Industry Award in 2005, and an OBE for services to Dance in 2022. Furthermore, he was made an Honorary Fellow of University of London Goldsmith College in 2024, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in January of this year.
Appointed to the Teaċ Daṁsa board of directors in 2026
Ciara offers financial support and strategic advice in all aspects of financial accounting for the not-for-profit and charity sector. She has particular expertise in control processes, internal and external audit, and corporate governance matters, specializing in assessing business and regulatory risk.
She spent ten years as an assessor and as the Theatre Adviser to the Arts Council of Ireland, working with the Head of Theatre, assessing applications and providing advice on policy development. She was a member of the #WakingTheFeminists research team and an author of the groundbreaking 2016 study Gender Counts: An analysis of gender in Irish Theatre 2006-2015.
Currently, she provides governance and finance services to The Care Trust DAC, Science Gallery International, and is Director of Finance (part-time) at Dublin City Council Culture Company. She trained with Deloitte & Touche in Dublin, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 2004. She also holds an MA in Writing (2010) and a PhD in Theatre History from NUI Galway (2014). Ciara serves as a member of the Finance, Accounting & Risk (FAR) committee.
Appointed to the Teaċ Daṁsa board of directors in 2026.
Finn Gleeson is a co-founder and owner-operator of multiple small food businesses across Ireland. He received a first-class arts degree from UCD before going on to do a Masters in Financial Economics at Oxford University. After graduating, he worked as an economist before stepping into the hospitality sector.
In 2013, he co-founded Bunsen, one of Ireland’s leading burger brands, with his cousin Tom. They went on to establish the Mexican restaurants Masa and Una Bakery, now one of Dublin’s most popular craft bakeries.
Finn spends his time between Dublin and Ballinskelligs, County Kerry. He has always had a strong interest in the arts with a particular passion for music and film. Finn is an experienced Director, and serves as a member of the Finance, Accounting & Risk (FAR) committee.
Appointed to the Teaċ Daṁsa board of directors in 2026.
Donncha O’Connell is an Established Professor of Law at the University of Galway. He has served two terms as a Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission, as well as a member of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland and the Legal Aid Board. More recently, he served on the Independent Review Group to consider the Offences Against the State Acts.
He has served on the boards of various human rights organizations, including INTERIGHTS, FLAC, and Amnesty International – Ireland, and was the first full-time Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL). Additionally, he served for over nine years on the board of the Druid Theatre Company. In 2026, he was appointed to the Council of State by President Connolly
Appointed to the Teaċ Daṁsa board of directors in 2026 and is a member of the Governance & Nominations Committee.
Des Power was born curious and that curiosity along with a talent for leadership has been a driving force in an executive career marked by innovation, growth and talent development. Des held senior executive positions with Philips, Harman, Fitbit and Google. His global leadership journey took him to Eindhoven, Knoxville, Atlanta, Amsterdam, Shenzhen, Dublin and finally home to Strandhill.
Des recently graduated from INSEAD Business School with a certificate in Corporate Governance (IDP-C). Today he serves on the Boards of Enterprise Ireland, The Model and Teac Damsa. Previously, he was a Director of Fitbit International and Hawk’s Well Theatre.
Appointed to the board of Teaċ Daṁsa board in 2024