“I had no idea what to expect, but I’m thrilled with how it’s turned out.”
Dance Hall Days is one of the beautiful projects making up part of our Bealtaine Exhibition at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre. Hearing her parent’s stories of attending dances years ago inspired artist Anne Harrington Rees to start this project. Anne worked with clients from Dunmanway Day Care Centre to gather their stories of attending the local dance halls.
Creating Together
Over seven weeks in the autumn and winter of 2025, the group discussed the dances. They chatted about the bands they saw, the music they liked, and the friends they went with. Music from the likes of Victor Sylvester, Mick Delahunty, Foster and Allen, and John Spillane played in the background as they worked. Anne guided the group in how to use layers of masking tape, moulded around real shoes, to create life-size shoes. The participants then used recycled cardboard and coloured tissue paper to decorate their shoes. Anne demonstrated how to make pom-poms. Following that, a couple of people decided that they would make them for the rest of the group. There was a lovely atmosphere in the room as people worked on their shoes. Participants chatted with their neighbours, sometimes singing along, or tapping their feet or fingers in time with the music.
Dancing Shoes
Anne consulted with an animator based in Cork city as part of the project. Once the shoes were complete, Anne used a stop motion animation programme to take and compile hundreds of photos of the shoes into a short film. The video shows the shoes dancing in pairs to an old-time Irish waltz. Fellow Arts for Health artist, musician Kate Liddell, recorded the music to go along with the dancing shoes.
In January 2026, Anne revisited the Day Care Centre to show the film to the group. They loved it! As one participant said “I had no idea what to expect, but I’m thrilled with how it’s turned out.”
Anne commented “I loved working on this project and seeing how the shoes developed over the weeks. The Dunmanway Day Care Staff and project participants were so welcoming and were happy to have-a-go without being sure what the final outcome was going to be. There was a lot of trust involved, and respect for each other too, with no pressure put on individuals to take part, if they didn’t wish to. Having said that, everyone contributed in one way or another and I learned many things about the local dance halls, including the fact that Kanturk was where to go for the best looking men!”
The Bealtaine Exhibtion at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre is running from 1 – 31 May.
Images by Anne Harrington Rees.