According to the director and choreographer of this scintillating piece of art, Michael Keegan-Dolan, “A mám is a pass through the mountains. It’s a geographical structure that encourages people to go a certain way.” He goes on to say it can also mean an “obligation”, adding, “Sometimes as artists, you feel this obligation to do something, even if you can’t really say why.”
This is an artistic endeavour of the highest quality. It is an imaginative combination of dance, theatre and music. Taking you on a journey through love, despair, longing, and joy. It is both intense and free, structured and loose, disparate and unifying.
It starts with a devilish figure holding a concertina, facing a child. He takes off his mask, and the dancers start creating a beat, and the movement begins.
Cormac Begley provides the music on his concertina for the first half of the piece. The music is distinctly Irish and earthy. Your eyes, though, are on the dancers, the subtleties of their movement, the expression and emotion they are radiating. It is captivating to watch their grace.
There are periods when their movements are animalistic, bawdy, and unrefined. Deliberately so, I hasten to add. Sometimes they move at speed, and at others, show a stillness and reserve. There is humour, and at one point, two opposing groups shout at each other, which may or may not be a comment on our social media age.
Later on, a band is revealed, and the music becomes less Irish and more classical, more European. Mayah Kadish plays a haunting melody on the violin. Kayva van Gangelen on the Oboe creates an ethereal sound that cuts through to the heart. The band members were not just there to play the music. They were part of the piece and moved and interacted with the dancers.
They also played little bits of jazz, that is, music with dissonance and disruption. At one point, a melody appears, it is interrupted by a dissonant note and then returns to the melody.
It seems unfair to single out any dancer, since this is an ensemble piece, but I have to say that Kim Ceysens was breathtaking. The intensity and clarity of her movements were magnificent. She exuded charisma, and her lines were clean.
James Southward also stood out because of the roguish part he had to play. He, too, had a charisma that shone through, but he had a vivid way of bringing out not just the dance but the theatrical side of the whole piece.
This is not just a piece of dance. It is an overtly theatrical statement about art itself. We must be free to express ourselves, to make that journey through the mountains to find out where we should be going. Nothing should stand in our way, and if we find the steps and dance together, we can find that salvation.
I definitely recommend MÁM. It is well worth the journey for its energy, expression, and warmth.
It continues at the Lowry until 4th February: https://thelowry.com/whats-on/mam-r9p7. It then continues around the UK: https://danceconsortium.com
Reviewer: Adam Williams
Reviewed: 3rd February 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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