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29 Oct 2025
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29 Oct 2025
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Building the Boat - A Performance
This event takes place in The Workhouse, Dunfanaghy,F92NX47 on August 24 from 12pm to 12.45pm and from 24 August, 3pm to 3.45pm
Building The Boat performs the creation of a Dunfanaghy curach in poetry, contemporary dance and soundscape. It celebrates the community of the meitheal, the language associated with the craft, and its connection with curach builders stretching back generations.
The Dunfanaghy Workhouse, lends itself to a transformative performance, placing the audience at the centre of the experience for a meaningful and lasting exchange. Building the Boat ensures the survival and diversification of a native tradition in a space where everything is possible.
Building The Boat are poet Keith Payne, contemporary dancer Inma Pavon and sound artist Mick O'Shea.
A spokesperson said: “The Dunfanaghy curach holds within its hazel rods and timber gunwales the long tradition of skin boat building on this island, reflecting the gold of the Broighter Horde, back to St Brendan and further back beyond the shores of memory we can only imagine.
“But this is a boat that cannot be built alone. Sound travels across the water, echoing in the deepest niches of our inner ear, holding within it the rhythm that carries us onwards. Music, dance and poetry are held in the body of the boat inside which the whole community pulls together: ‘When we flex together and haul as one each wave will slide under harmlessly and we’ll row free.’
“And community is like the curach; a well-built and flexible vessel that can carry us to safety on the rising tides and ensure we all make a home of where we find ourselves, here together, le chéile.”
Admission is €10 per ticket and there are a limited number of tickets per performance.
Contact: Donegal Famine Heritage Centre LTD (Operating as The Workhouse, Dunfanaghy) 0749136540, managerdunfanaghyworkhouse@gmail.com
Event Information: A live performance, re-enactment or demonstration - As Gaeilge - Accessible by public transport - Car parking available - Fully wheelchair accessible - Includes an admission fee
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