Dance 2005/Michael Seaver: Most of this year was spent deciding what is dance and what isn't. The much-anticipated Umwelt came to Cork 2005 in February with a reputation for austerity and so little dance that trouble brewed at its premiere in Lyon.

The almost-packed Cork Opera House was less volatile than the French audience in sitting through choreographer Maguy Marin's tirade against war, environmental neglect and over-production.

The lack of steps from a choreographer who has set Coppelia and Cinderella on Lyon Ballet magnified the power of the performers appearing from behind metal screens presenting simple images of contemporary life. Later in April DV8 relied on live and virtual images in the world premiere of Just for Show.

Choosing DV8 was a safer bet for the presenter - International Dance Festival Ireland - but still made an important statement as to where it positions both itself and its audience.

Some of those who attended The Bull didn't appreciate choreographer Michael Keegan Dolan's foray into spoken theatre, and there were more letters to this paper criticising fellow choreographer David Bolger's direction of Handel's Imeneo for Opera Ireland. Whereas Keegan Dolan had full control over the narrative, Bolger was strait-jacketed by a undramatic sequence of meditations on love.

In the past he has spun yarns of hen and stag parties out of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, and a similar strategy of a counter-narrative - this time of a production in the making - echoed the heroine Rosmene's deception in saying one thing but acting differently. Bolger also tackled The Nutcracker in January and set it in a dreary office, but there seemed not enough dreaminess and sparkle, particularly in the second act.

Ashley Page's version for Scottish Ballet in Belfast also elbowed convention out of the way as it chased its own logic through Tchaikovsky's score. It was still The Nutcracker, but Page took us a different route, re-introducing the story of The Hard Nut acted out by Herr and Frau Stahlbaum.

Later in the year steps were again abandoned as Rex Levitates forsook their normally seductive moves for the stationary bodies and gnarled limbs of Rosemary Butcher in Six Frames, while the silent theatre of Mummenschanz and the wacky world of Aurelia's Oratorio by Victoria Thiérrée Chaplin further proved that the tiniest twitch is often more eloquent that the grand gesture. Rex Levitates dancer Jenny Roche collaborated with composer Ian Wilson and videographer Ian Joyce, but usurped the usual hierarchy where the music accompanies the dance to a video backdrop.

In Skin Roche spent more time offstage than on, as music and image were allowed to share the performance space as equal participants. Dance Theatre of Ireland directors Robert Connor and Loretta Yurick returned to elemental issues in Watermark, and Irish Modern Dance Theatre had a busy year with John Scott's The White Piece and Chris Yon's RrrrrrrKillKillKill . . . to infinity (Make it Look Real).

Choreographers may have been happy in the aesthetic no-man's-land between dance, theatre and performance art, but in practical terms the definition of choreography was problematic - at least for the Revenue Commissioners, who, after a review of the legislation around tax-free status for artists, continue to believe the choreography is not "a work of artistic merit".

Although dance is now listed as an art form in the Arts Act, political memoirs still appear to have more artistic merit than choreography.

There might still be some wriggle-room when the Arts Council discusses guidelines around the legislation in the New Year and the case that was put forward, particularly by Theatre Forum and the Association of Professional Dancers in Ireland (APDI), will need to be restated.

The APDI seems re-energised with the arrival of Yvonne O'Reilly as managing director and will take over management of the new dance space on Foley Street in the months ahead. After a quiet year, partly spent in self-examination, the Institute of Choreography and Dance in Cork is now aligned to a network of European dance houses and seems keen to distinguish itself from the new space in Dublin.

The Dublin Fringe Festival offered a mixed bag, with some strong contributions from Irish groups like CoisCéim and Siamsa Tíre, but weaker offerings from visitors Yoram Mosenzon and Vania Gala. Foreign ballet companies are now less frequent visitors, leaving Ballet Ireland and Cork City Ballet to cater for ballet audiences.

Although the Cork outfit can't match Ballet Ireland's extensive touring, it is attracting stronger guest soloists and released a DVD featuring Irish ballerina Monica Loughman. Both the Irish National Youth Ballet Company and Shawbrook continue to provide important training and performance opportunities for young dancers as the issue of vocational training remains, as always, unresolved.

Highs & Lows

Highs

The re-invigoration of Scottish Ballet under Ashley Page has been a major talking point in the ballet world and The Nutcracker in Belfast revealed the extent of the transformation.

Brave programming by ICD brought Umwelt to Irish audiences long before the clamouring by major producers.

Fearghus Ó Conchúir receiving the €62,000 Clore Fellowship not only rewarded his own inquisitiveness and leadership, but reflected well on the art form.

Lows

After a review of legislation choreography is still not "a work of artistic merit". CS Lewis's Alice presented an almost ideal platform for Ballet Ireland's first evening-length work, but Gunther Falusy's choreography never quite met the challenge.

Yoram Mosenzon's Political Assassinator was a low point in an otherwise exciting Dublin Fringe Festival.