Halfway through Jean Butler’s “What We Hold,” the audience is invited to sit at a long table surrounded by 50 chairs, as if at a wedding banquet. As the audience settles in, voices begin to float through the room, like snatches of lost conversations. A transformation happens: They are not just dancers but Irish dancers. “That’s the very first thing we learned as kids, that posture,” Butler said after a rehearsal. It is something all Irish dancers hold in their bodies, like first position in ballet.

---

Persons: Jean Butler’s, ”, “, ” Butler