INTERVIEW WITH long-time company member and co-choreographer for An Exquisite Corpse, Maeve Fahey
Long-time Company Member, Maeve Fahey, co-choreographed Bare Bait Dance’s season-finale show alongside Artistic Director Joy French. An Exquisite Corpse is a dance theater abstract murder mysteryfollowing a cast of characters through an evening of intrigue and high suspicion, as they search for “who-dunnit”.
From her experiences abroad earning her MA in Dance at the University of Limerick to being back in a collaborative space with Bare Bait Dance, Maeve discusses what it was like to co-choreograph her first-ever evening-length work.
US: This is your first full evening length. How has it felt? Can you believe that you've made an evening length?
Maeve Fahey: It feels really great! It's a huge undertaking. So, I'm really thankful that it was in collaboration with Joy. It felt very much like an incubator, a learning opportunity.
US: Has making an evening length been something that you've dreamed about doing or wanted to do at some point?
Maeve Fahey: I actually feel like it wasn't really something I thought about much at all. I've always just really enjoyed the role of dancer and getting to make choreographic choices within someone else's structure. So, I think because I'm so comfortable in that state, I was always kind of hesitant about the idea of taking on such a big project by myself.
I do think that through my master's program, with having to start choreographing more and working that muscle, I ended up being more interested in this type of project. And with Joy as a support system and also as a collaborator, I think it was kind of the perfect opportunity for me to dip my toes in.
US: How did the two of you kind of approach collaborating in terms of creating movement and making decisions?
Maeve Fahey: When we approached the idea of An Exquisite Corpse, it was going to be more of a clear split, with each section being segmented and tied to a choreographer. But I think we were both craving working in the studio together, and so it morphed into a sense of back and forth.
I think the hardest thing was that there were so many ideas and different kinds of trajectories that we could take within this show. It was hard to rein ourselves in, but it was necessary for how short of a process this was.
US: Yeah, I think some people don't realize how quickly we make work like this.
Maeve Fahey: Definitely! This was about a 2-month process, which is a fast turnaround. It was nice to have Joy, who has done this for so long and has a sense of the kind of pulse or tempo that we should be working at.
I would love to do a year-long process similar to this at some point, though. It would give me the opportunity to let things marinate for longer and see what I can really dive into.
US: This is very much a dance theater work, correct?
Maeve Fahey: For sure!
US: Can you tell us a little bit more about the development of characters and storyline?
Maeve Fahey: Well, Freya, who plays the narrator, wrote her whole script. She killed it! We would prompt her with some ideas or moments where we felt narration would be nice, but she ended up being a huge collaborator with us in that way.
And all the dancers contribute in so many different ways, as well. I’ve been saying to everyone, we're just so lucky to have the cast that we did. I feel like it was the perfect merging of all these different creative minds.
Everyone was really committed to the idea of building a character and was game to just go for it, which is another reason we were able to create a work like this. There was so much playfulness within rehearsals, and some of my favorite moments in the show were developed from that.
US: That really shows how big collaboration is when creating a live performance. Had the cast been different people, the final product may have been something else entirely.
Maeve Fahey: Well, I think that's the nice thing about a company like Bare Bait Dance and the size that we are. I really appreciate how good Joy is at working with the dancers who are in front of her and using their own movement language as a strength.
In bigger-scale companies, you'll see them doing a lot of rep work— bringing back stuff that was already made. That type of work is usually made by one body, for a different body, and then is sometimes re-staged onto another body.
But everything we do with Bare Bait is new and fresh! This really helps the dancers, whether it's the apprentices, the guests, or the company members, shine.
US: Is there anything else you’d like to add or any words you’ve heard from audience members that may encourage those who haven’t seen the show to come this weekend?
Maeve Fahey: I think being one week into the show run, things have coalesced and solidified, and we're now able to just have fun performing! And I think that translates to the audience.
I’ve had a few people mention how the energy of the show is so electrifying, and I think that’s because we are all able to be so present on stage. It should feel fun for both the dancers and the audience.
There is humor, amazing dancing, a storyline to follow, and we really encourage people to come multiple times because we guarantee that you will notice something new that you didn’t see the first time. I just hope we can bring a little respite and joy into people’s lives!
An Exquisite Corpse is presented as part of our 2025|2026 season at the Westside Theater, April 17 - 26, 2026. Click to reserve tickets for weekend two.