Cork Midsummer Festival announces first production in 2026 programme

1975 / Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig has been announced as the first production for the Cork Midsummer Festival. Picture: Emilija Jefremova.

The premiere of the Cork-Paris co-production of 1975 / Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig has been announced as the first production for the Cork Midsummer Festival.

Teaċ Daṁsa’s (House of Dance) 1975 / Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig, which was first presented in Teac Damsa's Studio in West Kerry in 2025, will run at the Cork Opera House from June 18 to June 20.

Set to the iconic 1975 album by Irish traditional group The Bothy Band, 1975 / Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig is a dance and theatre performance ritual where music and movement merge as one.

In the new dance-theatre work, choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan brings together seven dancers to honour, remember and be inspired by a visionary cultural happening in dark and challenging times.

In Keegan-Dolan’s world of movement, story and energy, the dancers move from wild expressive freedom to a reflective stillness, their personal histories unfolding to the rhythms of traditional Irish music.

1975 / Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig has been announced as the first production for the Cork Midsummer Festival. Picture: Emilija Jefremova.

“I have always dreamed of making a dance theatre work to one complete music album. Of all the albums in all the world, it had to be 1975, by The Bothy Band,” Keegan-Dolan said.

Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill of The Bothy Band said that seeing Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig transported her right back to moments from the time of making the album, in a way she had not expected.

“Teaċ Daṁsa's interpretation of our work brings to life all the joy, fun, sadness and divilment of what was an extraordinary adventure for us as a band, and I thoroughly recommend going to see it,” she said.

Keegan-Dolan founded Teac Damsa almost a decade ago, when he moved from Longford to the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht on the Dingle peninsula.

The director and choreographer leads the creative team, which includes lighting design by Adam Silverman, costume design by Hyemi Shin & Amanda Donovan, additional sound design by Jelle Roozenburg and videographer Mickey Kelly.

The dancers will be Aki Iwamoto, Daniel Myers, Amit Noy, James O’Hara, Rachel Poirier, James Southward and Holly Vallis.

• The Cork Midsummer Festival 2026 runs from June 12 to June 21. The full programme will be announced at the end of April.