David Bolger

Artistic Director

David is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of CoisCéim Dance Theatre.

Over the past 30 years, David has directed and choreographed many original productions for the Company, many of which have toured both nationally and internationally – garnering international recognition and receiving prestigious awards for their innovation, performance and choreography

CoisCéim have performed throughout Ireland, UK, Scotland, France, Germany, USA, China and Tasmania and at The Venice Biennale. The Company was awarded two coveted Fringe Firsts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for two consecutive years running (2006/2007) and an Argus Angel award in 2012. Recent productions for the Company include DanceHall Blues, Palimpsest, The Piece With The Drums, Irish Times Theatre Award winning Go To Blazes, Francis Footwork, Body Language, the award-winning The Wolf And Peter, Agnes, Dance Talking: Portraits of a Dancer, Missing, Pageant, Touch Me, Faun, and the award-winning Swimming with My Mother.

In 2003, CoisCéim Dance Theatre was commissioned to create a large scale performance A Dash of Colour involving 75,000 people for the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics, which was televised worldwide and Intimate Details, a dance spectacle based on the human and animal ornamentation found in the Book of Kells for the Opening Ceremony of the Ryder Cup 2006, also televised and broadcast to over 10 million people. Other large-scale events include the opening ceremony for the UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE at the AVIVA Stadium Dublin.

David has received many commissions for his work notably Ausserhalb Der Gelfahrenzone for the Tanztheatre in Freiburg/Heidelberg, RAW for Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Company (2008) and On The Wall for Croi Glan Integrated Dance Company (2009).

His collaborations with director Trevor Nunn at the National Theatre, London include The Relapse, Tom Stoppard’s The Coast Of Utopia, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Nick Hytner’s production of The Man Of Mode.

For Druid Theatre Company David has collaborated with director Garry Hynes on the award winning Synge Cycle and The Silver Tassie and was an Associate Director for Druid Murphy. Other work for Druid includes King of The Castle, Richard III, The Playboy of the Western World, Sive, Sharon’s Grave, The Year Of The Hiker, and Epiphany, The Cherry Orchard, DruidGregory, Once Upon a Bridge, DruidO’Casey. He was Associate Director for DruidShakespeare which premiered in May 2015.

Work at the Abbey Theatre includes By The Bog of Cats, Tarry Flynn, The Colleen Bawn (both also at the National Theatre London), The Secret Fall Of Constance Wilde (also at The Barbican London), She Stoops to Folly, The Marriage Of Figaro, Othello, Swept, The Man Who Became a Legend and Big Maggie. In 2012 David was Choreographer and Movement Director on the world premier of James Joyce’s The Dead adapted by Frank McGuinness and directed by Joe Dowling.

David has also collaborated with director Joe Dowling on a number of occasions at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, most recently co-directing the acclaimed Midsummer with Dowling. Other work includes Musical Stager and Choreographer on The Pirates of Penzance and H.M.S Pinafore, which was broadcast on PBS ARTS and for which David was honoured with an IVY Award for outstanding choreography.

Other movement direction and choreography projects include The Giggler Treatment (The Ark), Assassins, The Children, The Beginning & A Christmas Carol (The Gate Theatre) Punk Rock (Lyric Theatre Belfast), The Merchant of Venice (Second Age Theatre Company), Buffalo Bill has Gone to Alaska (Pigs Back) Hurl (Barabbas), Dancing at Lughnasa (Théatre du Nouveau Monde Montreal and Lyric Theatre Belfast), King Ubu (Galway Arts Festival), Off Plan (RAW Theatre) and in 2007 David directed Madison’s Descent composed by Mícheál ó Súilleabháin, based on a story and paintings by Page Allen (MontClaire State University, New Jersey).

David was Musical Stager and Choreographer for Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Martin Guerre, which toured the UK and USA in 1999/2000. Other work on musical theatre includes Stephen Sondheim’s Follies (National Concert Hall Dublin), Guys and Dolls (Leicester Haymarket/Groundwork) and Direction for Macbecks (Longroad). In 2013 he was Musical Stager and Choreographer for Heartbeat of Home, from the producers of Riverdance (International Tours & The Piccadilly Theatre, London’s WestEnd). He was also Musical Stager for the RTÉ 1916 Centenary Concert live from the Bord Gais Energy Theatre.

David made his Opera Direction debut in 2004 with Gluck’s Orfeo, which received an Irish Times/ESB Theatre Award for Best Opera Production before being the first Irish Opera Production to be invited to perform at the State Theatre in Wiesbaden (2005). Other work in Opera includes Assistant Director and Choreography for Farnace & Káta Katanová (Spoleto Festival), Handel’s Imeneo, nominated for the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Opera Production, Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Opera Ireland), Assistant Director and Choreographer for La Traviata (English National Opera) Choreographer for the world premier of Nicholas Maw’s Sophie’s Choice directed by Trevor Nunn (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), and Choreography for Faust (Irish National Opera). In 2022, David directed and choreographed Orfeo Ed Euridice for Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, a co-production with CoisCéim Dance Theatre & Irish Baroque Orchestra for which he received an Irish Times Theatre Award.

In 2001 David co-wrote and choreographed the dance film Hit and Run, which received several awards including The Paula Citron Award for Choreography for the Camera, and The Jury Prize in the Dance On Camera Festival, Lincoln Centre New York. In 2002 David was nominated for an American Choreography Award for his work on the film, one of the highest standards of achievement in choreography throughout the entertainment Industry. David has also written and choreographed Breakin' Brothers (produced by WILDFIRE FILMS), Deep End Dance (internationally award-winning short film produced by WILDFIRE FILMS for RTÉ Dance On The Box, 2010) and the award-winning How to Sink a Paper Boat (short film produced by CoisCéim, 2019). Other work in film includes Flatbed, Michael Collins and Dancing at Lughnasa with Meryl Streep.

In 2007, David was elected to membership of Aosdána, which honours artists whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the Arts in Ireland.