Cindy Cummings is an American-Irish

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

and contemporary dancer. She is a member of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association or academy of artists, each of whom must have produced a distinguished body of work of genuine originality. It was created in 1981 by the country's Arts Council on the initiati ...

, an elite Irish association of artists.

Early life and education

Cummings was born in

Wenatchee, Washington Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and most populous city of Chelan County, Washington, Chelan County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and has increased to 35,508 as of 2020. ...

.https://aosdana.artscouncil.ie/members/cummings/ She pursued studies in dance and theatre at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

, and in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Career

Cummings began her career in 1986. She has been based in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

since 1990, and her first Irish performance was in ''Zero Crossing'' at the

Dublin Theatre Festival The Dublin Theatre Festival is Europe's oldest specialised theatre festival. It was founded by theatre impresario Brendan Smith in 1957 and has, with the exception of two years, produced a season of international and Irish theatre each autumn. ...

that year. She has worked in theatre, television and film, mostly on collaborative productions. Her work was described by the Centre Culturel Irlandais as "working on the vulnerable and mutable place of the body within contemporary society using play and humour as tools for creative interrogation." Plays and interactive performances she has performed in include Jody O’Neill's ''What I (Don't) Know About Autism'' (the Abbey Theatre), ''Habit Performing'', ''One Night Stands'' with Tommy Hayes, ''The Big Chapel X'' (Asylum Productions at the Abbey Theatre), ''Triur Ban'', ''The Secret Project'', ''Toupees and Snare Drums'', ''Tracing Houdini'' and ''Baby Jane''. She played Rossa on the Irish children's TV show '' The Morbegs''. She acted in the film ''We All Come From Somewhere'' and performed an interpretative dance as a TEDx presentation. Major collaborations have included multi-year work with composer and artist Todd Winkler of Brown University, Connolly and Cleary of Paris, and Jools Gilson and Richard Povall. She has performed as part of a trio known as ''The Vintage''. She also tutors, including at KCat in Callan, County Kilkenny, and Inclusive Dance Cork (IDC), and has also taught or tutored at the Samuel Beckett Centre within

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, the

Gaiety School of Acting The Gaiety School of Acting (GSA) is a drama school located on Essex Street West in Temple Bar, Dublin, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by theatre director Joe Dowling in 1986. Patrick Sutton, theatre director, was director of the ...

and the NAYD. Her work is also used in courses taught at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. She was for a period co-director of the Fumbally Court Studio in Dublin, and was in 2014 one of three artists-in-residence at the

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

College of Science.

Recognition

In 2007 Cummings was elected to the Irish affiliation or academy of artists with a substantial body of work,

Personal life

Formerly based in Dublin, Cummings now resides in County Kilkenny. She sometimes works as a river guide in

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

References

External links

Cummings on Irish Playography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Cindy Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Wenatchee, Washington University of Oregon alumni American female dancers American emigrants to Ireland Irish female dancers Aosdána members Contemporary dance choreographers Irish women choreographers American women choreographers American choreographers