Biographies of some of the principals

ZOLTON PAPP
Zoltan Papp was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1979. He started Latin-American and standard dancing at the age of eight. He won the Hungarian National Dance Championships for both types of dance four times and in 1994 he was awarded the title of International Dance Champion for Latin-American dance. When he was 15 he enrolled in the high school of the Hungarian Dance Academy and later went on to enroll with The Hungarian Dance Academy University.He started to learn Irish Dancing at the age of 21 with Rona Morgan’s School Budapest, Hungary. Zoltan has recently performed the lead role in ‘To dance on the Moon’.

LISA ANDERSON
Lisa Anderson was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1981. She started Irish Dancing at the age of four where she successfully won many titles including All Scotland, All England, Great Britain. Lisa was one of the original members of “To Dance on the Moon” in which she was cast as the female lead performing the part hundreads of times. While with ‘Moon’ she has visited many countries throughout the world including Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and most countries within Europe. Dance of Desire will be her most challenging show to date but as she say herself ‘It is a challenge she has been waiting for’.

ALAN SCARIFF
Alan has been dancing for 14 years with the O ‘ Flaherty school of dancing. Alan has won several Connaught titles and has won second in the All Ireland and in the World Championships but claimed the number one World Cahmpion spot in 2003 at the World Championships held in Killarney.
In 1997 Alan started dancing with “Siamsa na Gaillimh”. Alan toured France with Siamsa in September 2000. In 2001 Alan joined the Ceol Chiarrai Productions ‘To Dance on the Moon’ & ‘The Spirit of Ireland’. Since 2001 he has toured several countries including Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

ANGELA BURNES
At the tender age of four years Angela took her first irish dance steps with the Setanta School in Scotland. Caometitevlt throughout the years many titles were gained with the strength of World titles in Ceilí and Figure indicating her ability in Group and team work.

Angela entered the world of show dancing at 15 years in ‘Feet of Flames’ in Hyde Park. After finishing her studies Angela enjoyed further experience with ‘Dancing on Dangerous Ground’ and ‘To dance on the Moon’. Though Angela was studying Advertising the stage was still calling her and ‘Dance of Desire’ was the perfect show to expand her knowledge and creativity of dance.

TANYA CUNNINGHAM
At the age of five Tanya started Irish dancing with Jan Currie School in her home town of Sydney, Australia. During her competitive dancing career she won eight New South Wales State Championships and seven Australian National championships. Tanya also studied other forms of dance including Tap, Jazz, Ballet and has a keen interest for Drama and Acting. Tanya has been performing the lead in ‘To Dance on the Moon’ since May 2000.

CLARE CASEY
Claire has been Irish Dancing since the age of four establishing herself as one of the Worlds best. After winning seven Canadian Championships and placing third twice in the World Championships, she branched out into Ballet, Modern and Jazz.
After dancing in the World Premier of ‘Need Fire – Passion of the Heart’ in Toronto, Clare landed the Lead role in the Dance Show ‘Gaelforce Dance’ utilizing her Irish and contemporary skills.

After years of touring Europe and North America, she performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra back in Canada. Ms. Casey is excited to be involved in ‘Dance of Desire’ as she feels the show gives her the scope to give her best in all aspects of dance.

PRODUCTION & MANAGEMENT

ERIC CUNNINGHAM (Composer/Performer/Producer/ Director)
Galway born Eric Cunningham has performed and recorded with many of Ireland’s greatest musical luminaries and has performed throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the Greek Islands, Australia, Russia, Asia, South America and the US (including Broadway). He has also performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra and the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

Eric holds an Honours Bachelor of Music and a first class honours Master of Music degree from University College Cork and was awarded the Sean O’Riada Memorial Award in 1996 for his contribution to Irish Music. Eric is also the composer and arranger of Ireland’s Premier Dance Musical ‘To Dance on the Moon’. The critically acclaimed show has already played to in excess of 800,000 people throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan. 2002 saw Eric add to his achievements by composing all new Music for Ceol Chiarrai’s Children’s Dance Production Show ‘Legend of the Knight’.

As a result of the knowledge and experience he gained while on myriad productions in the past, during 2002 Eric formed his own Production Company in an effort to produce and promote shows for both the domestic and foreign markets. Dance of Desire is the culmination of this experience.

MICHAEL CARR (Director)
Micheál Carr hails from Lisselton in Co.Kerry. He began his Music career with Siamsa (National folk company) and holds many All-Ireland titles for Singing and Tin-Whistle. It was evident from an early age that Micheál would play a major role in the promotion and production of Irish Music, Song & Dance through the World. Micheál formed Ceol Chiarraí Productions back in 1985 when he took his first Amateur ‘Spirit of Ireland’ show to a Pan-Celtic Festival in Cornwall. Yearly tours to Europe, USA and Australasia followed.

‘The Spirit of Ireland’ was added to in 2000 when, in association with North Kerry Arts ‘To Dance on the Moon’ was conceived. This was followed up last year with the first ever Irish children’s Dance show ‘Legend of the Knight’, which was conceived by his right hand man and brother, Bryan.

Dance of Desire is his latest offering to the Irish Dance world and he hopes his best to date, however Micheál does not let the grass grow under his feet. With the profits from ‘Moon’ North Kerry Arts are half way through the building of a €4M 520 seated Theatre in Michael’s home town of Ballybunion where he owns the 100 Bedroom Golf Hotel and resides with his wife Martina and their two kids Jonathon and Ava.

THE CAST

DANCE of DESIRE comprises a cast of 25 performers including
Susan Mc Fadden, Zoltan Papp, Lisa Anderson, Tanya Cunningham, Clare Casey, Angela Burns, Alan Scarrif & many more.

Susan McFadden (Lead Vocalist)

Susan started her career with the Billie Barry Stage School, which she attended from 1987 – 2000. In 1993 she gained the title role in The Olympia Theatre’s Christmas show Annie. Since then she has starred in The King and I (Olympia Theatre 1995), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Irish Tour 1996), The Gaiety Theatre Pantomime (1999) and Tony Kenny’s Ireland (Tour of North America 2002). Her cabaret work includes the June Rodgers Christmas and Summer Cabarets (2000, 2001, 2002). Television credits include Relative Strangers (1999) and Bachelors Walk (2001). Susan was most recently one of the finalists in the ‘You’re a Star’ television series - a competition to find Ireland’s Eurovision entry for 2003.

ZOLTON PAPP (Goblin)

Zoltan Papp was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1979. He started Latin American and standard dancing at the age of eight. He won the Hungarian National Dance Championships for both types of dance four times and in 1994 he was awarded the title of International Dance Champion for Latin American dance. When he was 15 he enrolled in the high school of the Hungarian Dance Academy and later went on to enrol in The Hungarian Dance Academy University. He started to learn Irish Dancing at the age of 21 with Ronan Morgan’s School in Budapest, Hungary. Although only Irish step dancing for a short time, Zoltan recently performed the lead role in ‘To Dance on the Moon’ and in ‘Dance of Desire’ demonstrates his flexibility and talent within each dance genre that he has encountered.

LISA ANDERSON (Aoife)

Lisa Anderson was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1981. She started Irish Dancing at the age of four and later went onto win many titles including All Scotland, All England, and Great Britain Irish Dancing Championships. Lisa was one of the original members of the cast of ‘To Dance on the Moon’ a show in which she was the female lead dancer performing the part hundreds of times. While with this production she visited many countries throughout the world including Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and most countries within Europe. Her role within ‘Dance of Desire’ will be her most challenging to date but as she says herself ‘It is a challenge she has been waiting for’.

Tanya Cunningham (Anu)

At the age of five Tanya started Irish dancing with the Jan Currie School
in her hometown of Sydney, Australia. During her competitive dancing career she won eight New South Wales State Championships and seven Australian National championships. Tanya has also studied other forms of dance including Tap, Jazz, and Ballet and has a keen interest in Drama and Acting. Tanya has been performing the lead role in ‘To Dance on the Moon’ since May 2000.Her role as the Milesian princess Anu in ‘Dance of Desire’ demonstrates her ability to merge her past eclectic dancing experiences into a unique style of her own.

ALAN SCARIFF (Dancer)

Alan has been dancing for 14 years with the O ‘Flaherty School of dancing. In 1997 Alan started dancing with “Siamsa na Gaillimhe” and began performing abroad with ‘Siamsa Tire’ in September 2000. In 2001 Alan joined North Kerry Arts and Ceol Chiarrai Productions ‘To Dance on the Moon’ & ‘The Spirit of Ireland’. Since 2001 he has toured several countries including Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Alan is the holder of many Connaught titles while he also won second place in both the All Ireland and World Dancing Championships in the past. Keen to set the record straight and become number one, Alan won the 2003 World Dancing Championship title earlier this year.

Angela Burnes (Dancer)

At the tender age of four years Angela, a native of Scotland took her first Irish dance steps with the Setanta School in Glasgow. She has won many solo awards over the years in addition to World titles in Ceilí and Figure dancing.

As a result of the strength of her team and solo performances Angela entered the world of show dancing at 15 years performing in Michael Flately’s ‘Feet of Flames’ production in Hyde Park. After finishing her studies Angela gained further stage experience with Colin Dunne and Jean Butler’s production ‘Dancing on Dangerous Ground’ and also ‘To Dance on the Moon’. Though Angela was studying Advertising, the stage was still calling her and ‘Dance of Desire’ was the perfect show to expand her knowledge and creativity of dance. Angela hopes to return to her studies at a later date if her dancing schedule permits.

Clare Casey (Dancer)

Canadian Claire has been Irish Dancing since the age of four establishing herself as one of the Worlds best. After winning seven Canadian Championships and being placed third twice in the World Championships, she branched out into Ballet, Modern and Jazz.
After dancing in the World Premier of ‘Need Fire – Passion of the Heart’ in Toronto, Clare landed the Lead role in the Dance Show ‘Gael force Dance’ utilising both her Irish and contemporary skills.

After years of touring Europe and North America, she performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra back in Canada. Ms. Casey is excited to be involved in ‘Dance of Desire’ as she feels the show gives her the scope to give her best in all aspects of dance.

THE CREATIVE TEAM

ERIC CUNNINGHAM (Composer/Producer/ Director)

Galway born Eric Cunningham has performed and recorded with many of Ireland’s greatest musical luminaries and has performed throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the Greek Islands, Australia, Russia, Asia, South America and the United States (including Broadway). He has also performed with the Irish National Symphony Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra and the Irish Chamber Orchestra amongst many other orchestras. Eric stems from a very musical family and his father Matt is a well-known traditional musician.

In 1992, Eric was awarded a University scholarship to study music at the National University of Ireland (Cork) where he later graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Music degree and a First Class Honours Master of Music degree. In addition, Eric was awarded the Sean O’Riada Memorial Award in 1996 for his musical achievements. Eric has in the past composed and arranged the music for other stage productions ‘The Spirit of Ireland’, ‘Legend of the Knight’ and ‘To Dance on the Moon’. The music for ‘Dance of Desire’ is unique in many ways and it is the only show of it’s kind with an entirely original musical score. Eric is currently also working on the music for a feature film due for release next year.

As a result of the knowledge and experience he gained while working on myriad productions in the past, during 2002 Eric formed his own Production Company in an effort to produce and promote shows for both the domestic and foreign markets. ‘Dance of Desire’ is the culmination of this experience and although still in his twenty’s this production demonstrates Eric’s considerable creative talents.

Michael Carr (Producer)

Michael Carr hails from Lisselton in Co. Kerry. He began his Music career with Siamsa Tire (National folk company) and holds many All-Ireland titles for Singing and Tin-Whistle playing. It was evident from an early age that Michael would play a major role in the promotion and production of Irish Music, Song & Dance both at home and abroad. Michael formed Ceol Chiarraí Productions in 1985 when he took his first Amateur ‘Spirit of Ireland’ show to a Pan-Celtic Festival in Cornwall. Yearly tours to Europe, USA and Australasia followed.

As a result of the success of Michael’s production ‘The Spirit of Ireland’, during 2000 in association with North Kerry Arts Michael co produced ‘To Dance on the Moon’, Ireland’s first dance musical. This was followed up in 2002 with the first ever Irish children’s Dance show ‘Legend of the Knight’, which was conceived by his brother, and his right hand man- Bryan.

‘Dance of Desire’ is Michael’s latest offering to the Irish Dance world and he believes it is the best production he has been involved with to date. Michael does not let the grass grow under his feet however and with the profits from ‘To Dance on the Moon’ and with Michael as the driving force North Kerry Arts are half way through the building of a 4 Million Euro, 520 seated Theatre in Michael’s home town of Ballybunion. There, Michael owns the 100 Bedroom Golf Hotel and resides with his wife Martina and their two kids Jonathan and Ava.

SEAN QUINLAN (Author)

Sean who was born near Tralee, Co. Kerry is a historian and has produced a number of historic films of north Kerry. He is presently compiling the “Great Book of Kerry” which is a history of the Kerry area from prehistoric times. The completed work will be contained in five volumes and ten half-hour video films. The first volume will be ready for publication early 2004. Sean is presently chairperson of the County Kerry Community and Voluntary Forum, which represents the voluntary bodies of Kerry. He was appointed a Peace Commissioner in 1968 by the Justice department of the Irish Government. He is married to Anne and they have two grown up sons, William and Patrick.

Feature: Bernadette Price
Original Web Design: Alexander Servas

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