Amanda Armstrong PDTD RAD RTS

Amanda trained at The Royal Ballet School, where she was awarded the Nora Roche Award. She began her professional career as a student apprentice with The Royal Ballet before joining Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet. She later danced as a soloist with London City Ballet and English National Ballet performing principal and soloist roles in major classical and contemporary works.

Over her twenty year career, Amanda toured internationally performing in Ballets by MacMillan, Ashton, Balanchine, Deane, Nureyev, Hampson, Tetley, Morris and Marston amongst many others. Notable roles include Odette/Odile (Swan Lake) Giselle, Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Cinderella, Paquita and Raymonda.

After retiring, Amanda gained the Professional Dancers’ Teaching Diploma with distinction at the Royal Academy of Dance. She has since taught at vocational and pre-vocational levels across the UK, including positions at the Royal Ballet Upper School’s Associate Programme, English National Ballet School, and The Brighton Academy. Her teaching focuses on developing strong classical foundations, musicality, and confident artistic expression in every student.

Amanda brings to her teaching not only deep technical knowledge but also empathy, humour, and a lifelong commitment to nurturing the next generation of dancers. Her experience both on stage and in the studio allows her to support students with insight, warmth, and a passion for excellence.

Amanda is also qualified in Sports Massage and remedial bodywork, with additional expertise in sports psychology, anatomy and nutrition, allowing her integrate injury prevention and dancer well-being into her teaching.

Pilar Nevado

Born in Madrid, Pilar began her dance studies at the Real Conservatorio de Danza, at the schools of Lola Morales and Carmina Ocaña and finished her training at the prestigious School of American Ballet founded by George Balanchine in New York. She graduated in ‘Choreography and Dance Techniques’ by the Ministry of Culture.

Her professional career began in the Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid, directed by Victor Ullate where she became principal soloist.

In 2003, she joined the Zürich Opera Ballet, directed by Heinz Spoerli, where she danced as a principal dancer and spent a season at the Basel Ballet, under the direction of Richard Wherlock. Her repertoire includes soloist roles in classical ballets such as Don Quixote, Giselle, Les Sylphides, Paquita, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Coppélia and Cinderella, as well as in pieces by choreographers such as George Balanchine, Maurice Bejart, Jiri Kyllian, William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Christopher Wheeldon, Paul Lightfoot, Hans Van Manen, Niels Christie and Ling Hwai Min. She has participated in international galas and in 2004, the specialised press named her Dancer of the Year.

Since 2010, Pilar has devoted herself entirely to teaching. She teaches classical ballet at the school of the opera of Zurich, at the Zürich university and at Tanzwerk101. She has been invited to the ballet companies of Bern and the Cathy Sharp Dance Ensemble, as well as at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste and at the International Campus Valencia Danza.

Muirne Bloomer

Born in Dublin, Muirne has had an extensive performance career in ballet, contemporary and dance theatre in Ireland and abroad. She has been commissioned by Dublin City Council, Coisceim Dance Theatre, Dublin City Arts Office as well as receiving Arts Council funding for her own original work. Choreography for theatre and opera credits include: INO’s La Cenerentola, nominated for Best Production Irish Times Awards 2020 and the critically acclaimed Hamlet for the Gate Theatre in 2019/2020 which transferred to St Anne’s Warehouse New York.

Most recently Muirne choreographed Janet Moran’s Quake for the Dublin Theatre Festival 2023 and Irish National Opera’s critically acclaimed production of La Boheme in the Bord Gais Theatre. Muirne restaged the production with director Orpha Phelan for Le Corum, Montpelier in April/May last year. She has been a major contributor to large-scale spectacles and pageantry in Ireland and her choreography and staging include: The World Festival of Families (Croke Park, 2018), Laochra – GAA 2016 Centenary (Croke Park 2016), Opening Ceremony of the UEFA Europa League Final (Aviva Stadium 2011), Ryder Cup (K Club 2007) and Opening Sequence for the Special Olympics (Croke Park 2003).

Muirne is Performance Director for St Patrick’s Festival Community Arts and is Artistic Co ordinator of Creative Places Darnndale, incremental in the setting up of the Made in Darndale Summer Arts Festival. Muirne frequently guest teaches professional dance class for Irish Modern Dance Theatre and the Introduction to Dance intensive for drama students at the Lir Academy.

Muirne obtained an MA first-class honours in Dance from University of Limerick in 2015 and has just published her book: In Focus – Dublin City Ballet which is based on some of the research from her MA thesis.

(Appointed to the Board March 2025)

Joel Morris PDTD RAD dip RTS ATAP

Joel trained on full scholarship at the Central School of Ballet London. He was also awarded full scholarships to The Royal Danish Ballet, Copenhagen and American Ballet Theatre in New York City.

Joel had a long professional career and performed at all of Londons top theatres: The Royal Festival Hall, The London Palladium, The Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Opera House and across the world (Japan, Australia, Korea, USA, South Africa, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Monaco, Turkey, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, Ireland, Greece) in Principal and Soloist roles. Working with London City Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, K-Ballet (Japan) English National Ballet, South African Ballet Theatre and Cape Town City Ballet to name a few.

Having danced all the classical ballets; Swan Lake, Nutcracker and more, he was lucky enough to work with Dame Gillian Lynne, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Trevor Nun in the West End revival of CATS at The London Palladium and the world tour where he performed the iconic Role of Mr Mistoffelees.

Whilst performing Joel staged many youth ballet full productions in South Africa and and taught in the school attached to the company he was performing in. This is where his passion for teaching was really developed.

After completing the Professional Dancers Teaching Diploma, Joel has taught at The Royal Ballet School (International Summer Intensive at White Lodge and the associate programs for the last 6 years), The Urdang Academy (specialism in classical ballet), BodyWork, London Studio Centre, Ballet Boost, the RAD (London and international summer programs), Pineapple Studios Covent Garden and The Ballet School Notting Hill. Teaching the professionals of “American in Paris” West End cast, The South African Ballet Theatre Company and open professional class at Danceworks and Pineapple. He feels lucky to have taught every level of ballet.

Loughlan Prior

Loughlan joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) in 2010 and rose to become a company Soloist, enjoying a decade-long career performing in New Zealand and internationally. Appointed RNZB Choreographer in Residence in 2018, he has received Creative New Zealand’s Tup Lang Award for choreography, a Warren Douglas Scholarship and the Ballet Foundation of New Zealand’s Harry Haythorne Choreographic Award. In 2019, he was recognised as a ‘Distinguished Graduate’ of the New Zealand School of Dance.

Loughlan’s critically acclaimed productions include Hansel & Gretel (2019, RNZB), The Firebird (2021, RNZB), Cinderella (2022, RNZB), Half | Life (2022, Lo|Co Arts), and Woman of Words (2023, RNZB). He has created and staged works for Alberta Ballet, BalletCollective Aotearoa, BalletX, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Queensland Ballet, and Singapore Ballet, among others.

He has also taught and choreographed at the Australian Ballet School, Canada’s National Ballet School, New Zealand School of Dance, and Palucca University Dresden. In 2022, he was invited to present an evening-length programme of works (Coloratura, Curious Alchemy, Storm Surge, Time Weaver, Verse) for the New Zealand School of Dance’s Performance Season.

Loughlan has created numerous live and digital projects for a diverse range of creative partners, including TV3’s Dancing with the Stars, as well as Auckland Arts Festival, BalletCollective Aotearoa, Chamber Music New Zealand, iD Fashion Week, New Zealand String Quartet, Te Papa National Museum, Tempo festival, Vogue Australia, Wānaka Festival of Colour, WGT LUX festival, and Zambesi fashion house.

His dance-films have been screened at numerous international film festivals, including the Film Society of Lincoln Center, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, and the Short Film Corner of the Cannes Film Festival. His film Inklings received first prize in the dance category at the Berlin Filmhaus Awards in 2022.

In 2025, Loughlan Prior’s dramatic ballet The Firebird makes its return to stages across New Zealand, and his production of Hansel & Gretel will enter the repertoire of Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet. He will also create new works for Ballet Ireland and West Australian Ballet.

Stephanie Courtney

Email: [email protected]

Stephanie has worked in digital marketing and web development for almost 20 years, running campaigns in Ireland for Arnott’s, Bank of Ireland, Failte Ireland, Vodafone, and many more. In Ireland, Stephanie worked for Mindshare (Group M), iProspect (Carat), and OMD as well as running The Alignment Collective serving clients in the UK, US, Australia and across the EU.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Stephanie is also an international theatre director and instructor. She was the Artistic Director of Fortune’s Fool Productions, known for Free Shakespeare in the Iveagh Gardens, and she taught movement and theatre history at The Gaiety School of Acting.

Dominic Harrison

Dominic was born in Sheffield and trained at Central School of Ballet in London in 2008. Upon graduating in 2011 he joined Northern Ballet and subsequently Scottish Ballet.

In 2013 he moved to Ireland to work with Ballet Ireland. Working closely with Morgann Runacre-Temple and Ludovic Ondiviela. In 2014 he Joined Theatre Vorpommern in Germany, further expanding his artistic development working with international choreographers such as Brian Arias, Vera Sander and Robert Glumbeck. In 2018 Dominic joined Mainfranken Theater Würzburg under the new directorship of Canadian choreographer Dominique Dumais.

Since 2020, Dominic has been a freelance artist with notable performances including the 2020 Alina Cojucaru Gala at Sadlers Wells by Juliano Nunes, An original creation Rasa by Daniel Proietto with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and Three Sisters by Ilya Jivoy for Origen 2025. In 2022 he returned to work with Ballet Ireland performing works by Johan Inger, Ohad Naharin, Christopher Bruce, Filipe Portugal, Marguerite Donlon and Morgann Runacre-Temple.

In 2024 Dominic became Rehearsal Director at Ballet Ireland.

Dearbhalla Baviera

Dearbhalla Baviera is a certified Leadership Coach and Coach Supervisor, following a career in Management Consulting with Deloitte (Dublin) and EY (London).

Dearbhalla specialises in Conscious Leadership – supporting and developing leaders to show up in this complex world of ours. This is combined with her focus on Women in Leadership and developing Emerging Female Leaders.

As a Coach Supervisor, Dearbhalla is committed to advocating for standards and ethics in the coaching industry.

(Appointed to the Board April 2024)

Myrna Kamara

After training at the School of American Ballet, Myrna became a member of the New York City Ballet. Later, she was a Soloist with the Bonn Ballet in Germany, as well as a Principal dancer in the Miami City Ballet and Béjart Ballet Lausanne.

As an international Principal Guest Artist, Myrna has performed choreographies including George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Vladimir Vassiliev, Gheorghe Iancu, Yanis Pikieris, Paulo Manso de Sousa, Lynne Taylor Corbett, Susanna Egri, Renato Zanella, Luc Bouy, Paolo Mohovich and more.

Some of her important performances included the prima ballerina role in Aida at the Arena di Verona for several years, Balanchine’s Rubies as a Guest Artist in Capetown, South Africa, Aida and Carmen Gala for Placido Domingo in Japan, Aida from Franco Zeffirelli at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, a Bulgari event with Roberto Bolle at Terme di Caracalla in Rome, Gala des Etoiles in Luxembourg performing Balanchine, and the 20-year anniversary of the Miami International Ballet Festival.

As a Guest Teacher, Myrna has taught classes at the Basel Ballet School, the San Francisco Ballet School, the School of American Ballet, New York City Ballet, Orsolina 28, Art Studio Danza etc. She also coaches competition ice skaters to help improve their artistic performance quality. Recently, Myrna was a jury member for the Prix de Lausanne 2021 and 2022 for the Miami International Ballet Competition.

She is the founder of her own company balletXtreme where she is the Director and also a performer.

Niamh O’Flannagain

Niamh began dancing in Dublin with the Dunbar School of Dance and the Goode School of Dance. She then moved to the U.K. to continue her training at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. During her time there she toured the U.K. with Encore Dance Company and the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain, dancing works by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Cathy Marston, and Drew McOnie.

Niamh joined Ballet Ireland in 2018 and has since performed works including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Carmen, The Glasshouse, and Bold Moves with the company.

Additionally, Niamh has worked throughout Europe with Bregenzer Festspiele, Chrysalis London, Irish National Opera, Laura Macken Dance, Sophie Adams Ballet Company, and Róisín Whelan Dance. She has danced for TV and film with RTÉ, Merlin Productions, Trinity College Dublin, and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. Niamh was also the Irish representative at the 2019 Young Rural Retreat, led by Christopher Hampson, which focused on leadership skills within the future of the dance industry.

Alongside performing, Niamh has always had a passion for teaching. She was the teacher of Ballet Boost Associates in Belfast for 2021 and 2022 and continues to guest teach for them regularly. She also teaches in dance schools around Ireland and offers workshops in ballet, repertoire, and pilates. Niamh studied with STOTT Pilates and became a certified instructor in 2020.

Ruaidhrí Maguire

Ruaidhrí was born and raised in Co. Derry. He started training with Roberta McCormick and Laura Walker before moving to London to attend Central School of Ballet. During his third year, as part of Ballet Central, he performed in works by Christopher Hampson, Christopher Gable and Christopher Bruce.

After graduating, Ruaidhrí danced with Milwaukee Ballet and Ballet Victoria. In 2017, he joined the Baltic Opera Ballet, where he was a principal from 2019. Notable roles include: Albrecht in Giselle, Nutcracker Prince in The Nutcracker, Prince Charming in Cinderella, Lysander in Midsummer Night’s Dream and Principal Couple in Cuatro Estaciones de Buenos Aires.

Ruaidhrí also works as a choreographer with work being commissioned by Irish Modern Dance Theatre and main stage productions by the Baltic Opera Ballet. He has been a resident artist with Dance Ireland and Galway Dance Project. His work has been performed across Ireland, UK, Europe and Japan and has been supported by Arts Council Northern Ireland. Ruaidhrí is also an awardee of Theatre & Dance NI’s INVEST scheme for future arts leaders.

In 2023, Ruaidhrí founded and is the Artistic Director of Six Dance Collective, to promote ballet as an adventurous art form in NI, producing original ballet White Doves which premiered at The MAC, Belfast in Aug 2023.

Ruaidhrí joined Ballet Ireland in 2024 and he has performed in Walking Mad by Johan Inger, Stepping Over by Filipe Portugal and in the company’s productions of Cinderella and Nutcracker Sweeties.

Graham Reid

As Partner and Head of Markets for EY Ireland and a member of the Irish leadership team, Graham has overall responsibility for the Irish firm’s integrated growth strategy and go-to-market approach across all service lines and sectors. He is responsible for the delivery of exceptional service to clients across the island of Ireland, delivered by a 3,000-strong team across six locations.

Prior to Graham’s role as Head of Markets, he was a Corporate Finance Partner in the firm’s Strategy and Transactions practice, working with both global and local companies throughout Ireland.

With significant experience across banking, energy, financial services, agri-food, public, retail, transport, real estate and telecom sectors, he advised clients on corporate finance transactions, debt and equity shareholder and valuations.

Before joining EY, he worked as Corporate Finance Director for a leading banking institution.

Graham is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and an Associate of the Institute of Taxation in Ireland.

(Appointed to the Board October 2023)

Róisín Cahillane

Róisín is a Civil Servant and has been Head of the Governance Division in the Department of Transport since February 2022.

Róisín has previously held roles in policy, operations and corporate functions across a number of Government Departments including the Department of Transport, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Department of Health, the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU (Brussels) and the Department of Agriculture.

Róisín is a graduate of University College Dublin with a BA (Hons) in History and Politics and an MA in Irish Political Studies. She is also an Associate of CIPD.

(Appointed to the Board June 2023)

Johan Inger

Johan Inger made his breakthrough as a choreographer in 1995 after a very successful dancing career at the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT). Inger’s choreographies have won numerous prestigious awards. Between 2003 and 2008 he was the artistic director of the Cullberg Ballet, and between 2009 and 2015 he held the position as Associate Choreographer with NDT.

Johan Inger is now an established and renowned choreographer who has shared his works with numerous dance companies around the world. The Swede Johan Inger (Stockholm, 1967) had his dance training at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and at the National Ballet School in Canada. From 1985 to 1990 he danced with the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm, the last year performing as a soloist. Fascinated by the works of Kylián, Inger was convinced that the next step in his dance career should take him to Nederlands Dans Theater. In 1990 the hour had come. He joined Nederlands Dans Theater I and was a high-profile dancer in this company until 2002.

When Inger tried his hand at Nederlands Dans Theater’s annual Choreography Workshops (now Switch), Jiří Kylián noticed his talent for choreography. After four workshop pieces Inger was asked in 1995 to make his first choreography for Nederlands Dans Theater 2. The resulting Mellantid marked his official debut as a choreographer. It was part of the Holland Dance Festival and was immediately a resounding success. It brought him the Philip Morris Finest Selection Award 1996 in the Contemporary Dance category. In 2001 Mellantid was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award in the Best New Dance Production category.

Since his debut, Inger has made various works for Nederlands Dans Theater. For his ballets Dream Play and Walking Mad he received the Lucas Hoving Production Award in October 2001. Walking Mad as it was later performed by Cullberg Ballet was awarded the Danza & Danza’s Award 2005. Inger himself was nominated by the VSCD Dance Panel for the Golden Theatre Dance Prize 2000 and received the Merit Award 2002 of Stichting Dansersfonds ’79.

Inger left Nederlands Dans Theater for the artistic leadership of Cullberg Ballet in 2003. Over the following five years he created various pieces for this company. In the summer of 2008 Inger stopped as artistic leader for Cullberg Ballet so as to devote himself entirely to choreography and produced ‘Position of Elsewhere’ (2009) for Cullberg Ballet. In the years 2009-2015, Inger became ‘associate choreographer’ for the Nederlands Dans Theater creating regularly for both NDT1 and NDT2 (Dissolve in This, Tone Bone Kone, I New Then, Sunset Logic, B.R.I.S.A and One on One).

As of 2015, Inger also started to make his own versions of more narrative ballets and created his Rite of Spring, Carmen, Peer Gynt and Petruschka. Inger is now established as an independent choreographer.

His works belong to the repertoire of numerous dance companies over the world such as:
Nederlands Dans Theater, Cullberg Ballet, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, Royal Swedish Ballet, Ballett Theater Basel, The Norwegian National Ballet, Compania Nacional de Danza, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, Aterballetto, Ballet Vlaanderen, Ballet Staatstheater Nurnberg, Lyon Opera Ballet, Stanislavski Theater, Ballet BC, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Charlotte Ballet, National Theater Mannheim, Gauthier Dance Company, Theater Dortmund, Ballett des Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken, Staatsoper Hannover Ballet, Ballet du Rhin, Hungarian National Ballet, Semperoper Ballet Dresden, Aalto Ballett Essen, Hessisches Staatstheater Ballett, Finnish National Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance, Cedar Lake, Ballet Chemnitz, National Dance Company Wales, Icelandic Dance Company, Luzerner theater, Bern Ballet, Staatstheater Mainz, Ballet du Capitole – Toulouse.

Kate Lyons

Kate is a UK based independent dancer / performer / dance coach / rehearsal director. She spent 12 years performing with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, working her way from Ensemble to Principal, to Dance Captain, to Resident Director. Kate had the opportunity to be part of the creation in four Matthew Bourne productions, including Sleeping Beauty (Hibernia Fairy/Ardor Fairy/Aurora); The Red Shoes (Nadia Nerina and Svetlana Beriosova); Romeo+Juliet; and The Midnight Bell. She has performed in 10 different productions for New Adventures, and has performed over 30 different roles.

Before working for New Adventures, Kate collaborated with a range of classical and contemporary companies and choreographers across the UK, Europe, and the USA, and has most recently been in the studio with Corey Baker Dance Company, working on a Research and Development project.

Alongside her performing career, Kate has also been working as a Ballet coach and Rehearsal Director. Kate has spent the past few years guesting and working full time at Central School of Ballet as Ballet Tutor and Rehearsal coach, working with students of all ages to help them understand the fundamentals of ballet technique. Kate has a passion for helping her students to grow as technically capable dancers, but also as self assured, resilient and brave artists and performers. Kate teaches all age groups and abilities, from beginner to professional, and is a regular company class teacher at Ballet Black, for Christopher Marney, and also regularly covers open classes at Pineapple Dance Studio, Danceworks London, and Central Nights.

Jeremy Erwin

Jeremy is a partner in the Commercial & Business team at Hayes solicitors. He practises predominately in insolvency, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, acting for a variety of companies and financial institutions in contract law cases and enforcement and recovery actions in the High Court. He also advises clients in high value complex Commercial Court proceedings.

Jeremy also specialises in intellectual property matters, including the advising global clients on registration and protection of trade marks and related rights in Ireland and Europe. He has also advised extensively on trade mark disputes before the Irish Courts including one of the most recent leading intellectual property cases in Ireland, and disputes before the EU trade mark body. Jeremy also advises clients on a wide range of commercial and business law matters in particular company law obligations, and company law enforcement.

(Appointed to the Board March 2023)

Aszure Barton

Aszure Barton, whose choreography has been equated to “watching the physical unfurling of the human psyche” by the US National Endowment for the Arts, started tap dancing at the age of three. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Aszure moved to Toronto at 14 to attend Canada’s National Ballet School. Hungry to push buttons and boundaries, she satiated her propensity for rebellion by gathering friends and creating dances. These processes with her classmates led to the inception of the Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Showcase, which is still ongoing today, and Aszure has been making work ever since. To date, she has collaborated with celebrated dance artists and companies including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Teatro alla Scala, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, English National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Nederlands Dans Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, National Ballet of Canada, Martha Graham Dance Company, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Malpaso Dance Company and many others. Her works, described by the New York Times as “offer[ing] an entire world, full of surprise and humor, emotion and pain, expressed through a dance vocabulary that takes ballet technique and dismantles it to near- invisibility,” have been performed on countless international stages, including the Palais Garnier, Mariinsky Theater, The Kennedy Center, The Alicia Alonso Grand Theater, Studio 54, and Lincoln Center. She has also choreographed for film and theater (including the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, starring Cyndi Lauper and Alan Cumming and directed by Scott Elliott), and her work has been featured on Sundance’s Iconoclasts TV Series alongside Alice Waters and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Interested in the world outside a system of institutions, Aszure ventured away from a traditional career in ballet after a year of apprenticing with The National Ballet of Canada. With the assistance of the Canada Council, she left her home country to travel through Europe to observe choreographers and dancers in the midst of process, fulfilling her unconventional quest for creative freedom. She then returned home for a part time-apprenticeship with Les Ballets Jazz des Montréal, but after a few years, she decided to move to New York City in order to pursue the making of her own work. There she freelanced with numerous independent choreographers (including Wendy Osserman) who nurtured her wildness and encouraged her sense of humor; she was also introduced to improvisation and the development of authentic movement. She simultaneously worked supplemental jobs until she was able to found her own company, aimed at establishing an autonomous, collaborative platform for process-centered creation. Aszure Barton & Artists made its official premiere at the Montréal Fringe Festival, followed by an inaugural season at New York’s Joyce SoHo, a venue dedicated to showcasing work by exciting emerging artists. Soon after, Barton became the first Artist-in-Residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center under the Martha Duffy Fellowship, and so began her longtime collaboration with Mikhail Baryshnikov, who believes her to be “one of the most innovative choreographers of her generation.” First invited to make a new work at BAC (Over/Come, “disturbing and delicious” – San Francisco Chronicle), followed by a commission for Baryshnikov and Hell’s Kitchen Dance (titled Come In), Aszure found herself dancing and touring with the company while also growing AB&A into an interdisciplinary collective.

As a creator, Aszure seeks to embrace growth and make art that is universal, sensitive, and courageous. With an ever-evolving emphasis on presence and awareness, she aims to cultivate a space where conscious creativity meets regeneration, an inclusive environment where communal, cooperative energy can thrive. Her work explores human behavior and connection in audacious and irreverent ways while simultaneously respecting and dismantling classical and contemporary forms; by layering the mind with tasks and challenges, she strives to uncover the body’s inherent wisdom and its affinity for expression. One of her earliest works for AB&A, Lascilo Perdere, is known for its “tongue duet,” where two dancers perform connected teeth-to-

tongue; this “shows us that if two people can accomplish so many complicated maneuvers slowly and tenderly, without ever breaking the intimate, awkward, possibly painful connection, they have ceded much to gain something far greater,” according to The Village Voice. Her Awáa is another exploration of humanity; it focuses on motherhood and other life-giving forces, and has been hailed as “an extraordinary work, full of fantasy and surprises, yet grounded in recognizable behaviors,” by the Washington Post.

It is these themes and practices that have propelled Canadian-American Aszure Barton into the field as a ground-breaking, award-winning choreographer. She is a Bessie Award Honoree and a grateful receiver of the prestigious Arts & Letters Award, joining the likes of Margaret Atwood, Oscar Peterson, and Karen Kain. In 2014, she won the Gross Family Prize for her work Awáa, and this year she received the Ken McCarter Award for Distinguished NBS Alumni. Her work was voted Best Choreography on the 2022 Europe Critic Survey, and she was just awarded with Most Interesting Choreography in Berlin’s Jahrbuch Tanz for two of her works, BAAL and human undoing. She has also been proclaimed an official Ambassador of Contemporary Dance in Canada. As an educator, Aszure is regularly invited to collaborate with and give workshops at private, public and independent art institutions and forums around the globe. She has developed a close working-relationship with The Juilliard School, invited to create over 7 dances since 2003, and she recently served as Artist in Residence at The University of Southern California under the direction of William Forsythe. Her teaching, “like her choreography and her dancing, is fearless. She’s a risk taker and a speaker of truths” (Palm Beach Daily News).

Leo Moore

A highly experienced Marketing Communications leader with specialist expertise in strategic planning and creativity, Leo is currently the Senior Director of Strategy & Insights at the Kellogg Company (Europe).

Leo Moore was also the Global Director of the Creative Systems team at Meta, leading the global strategy, channel, and content teams for Meta’s Creative Shop. Whilst at Meta, Leo worked with some of the world’s most entrepreneurial businesses to develop powerful performance campaigns, drive business transformation and build replicable creative solutions.

Prior to Meta, Leo held senior positions in strategic planning, media management and sales at BBDO, McCann, Diageo and RTE. He also lectured in Strategic Planning on the Postgraduate Diploma in Advertising & Digital Media at the Technical University Dublin.

Outside of work you will either find him listening to music or playing tennis, ideally with his family.

(Appointed to the Board September 2022)

Róisín Whelan

Róisín began her professional training at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance where she completed her Bachelor in Performing in Arts and Masters in Performance, graduating with first class honours and receiving the Kathleen Tatterstall leadership Award. Róisín went on to join Black Box Dance Company, touring Denmark and Sweden throughout 2018 and 2019.

In 2019, Roisin joined Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures professional company for their UK tour of Romeo & Juliet where she performed for seven months in cities across the UK. From October 2019, Róisín joined the company as a dance artist, teaching company class and the company’s work to children and adults across the UK. Following this tour, Róisín joined Arielle Smith’s Project Dot. for their UK tour of L.O.V.E and in 2020 joined Balbir Singh Dance Company to perform across multiple shows and facilitate company projects.

In 2021, Róisín has worked with Iseli-Chiodi Dance Company on their new show Turnstile, Minte Wolde Dance and The Silence of Mercy, and will be working with Laura Macken, IMDT Dancer from the Dance festival and Laois Dance Platform later this year whilst creating her new works. In 2020, Róisín received a Dance Ireland Emerging Artist Award and Ballet Ireland’s Emerging Choreographer Award. Róisín is successfully funded by Arts Council Ireland as a Bursary and Professional Development Award recipient (2020 & 2021). Róisín also received Business to Arts funding from the Bank of Ireland, and a Begin together fund to create Man Down. Róisín has been supported by LD Dance Shawbrook, Dance Ireland and Backstage Theatre Longford as artist in residence (2020).

Róisín joined Northern Ireland Opera as an Emerging Choreographer for their 2021/22 open studio season.

Amelia O’Hara

Amelia is a passionate and experienced classical ballet teacher, and former professional dancer, who is committed to ensuring that the next generation of young people have the opportunity to experience the joy and transformational power of dance. She believes in creating positive and safe environments where young people can develop their artistic confidence, and advocates for wider access routes into the arts.

As a dancer, Amelia trained at The Royal Ballet School and Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, where she performed with The Royal Ballet Company and Northern Ballet Theatre. She went on to work and tour extensively with Ballet Ireland, Scottish Ballet, Ballet Cymru and Peter Schaufuss Ballet Company, as well as working with Arielle Smith, Drew McOnie, Jenna Lee and International Arts Collective for various productions worldwide.

After her successful career as a dancer, Amelia undertook the Royal Ballet School’s Diploma of Dance Teaching and currently teaches for the Royal Ballet School’s Associate programme in Manchester, and for Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Dance Track department. She has also taught for multiple organisations including Ballet Ireland, Ballet Boost, ACE Dance and Music, English National Ballet’s Youth Co, Elite Ballet Project, Laine Theatre Arts, and as Movement Rehearsal Director at Mountview for Arielle Smith.

In 2025, Amelia became the Associate Artistic Director of the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain.

Karen Lowey

Karen is former Marketing Director at EY Ireland, one of the global Big Four professional services firms.

As a strategic leader within EY, Karen’s role focused on delivering a robust marketing strategy and plan to support the firm’s revenue targets and build its brand reputation. During her 14-year tenure with EY, Karen. She established a number of new initiatives, evolved the firm’s digital marketing strategy and led the brand refresh of Ernst & Young to EY in Ireland.

Earlier in her career, Karen worked at University College Dublin in marketing and research. In addition, she was a Business Partner with Jen Doherty Bridal Designer which resulted in winning the award for Irish Bridal Designer of the Year in 2006.

Recently, Karen has been a guest speaker on the Masters of Advertising course at TU Dublin. She was a former Committee member of the PM Forum Ireland. She is a graduate of University College Dublin and holds a Masters degree in Media Studies from University of Ulster.

(Appointed to the Board March 2022)

Christopher Bruce

Hailed by London’s The Daily Telegraph as “the Nureyev of contemporary ballet”, Christopher Bruce’s position as one of Britain’s leading choreographers, working with both classical and contemporary companies worldwide, was acknowledged in March 1993 when he received the International Theatre Institute Award for excellence in international dance. This followed a host of other awards throughout a rich career, including the first Evening Standard Award for Dance in 1974 due to his contribution to British dance, both as a performer and as a choreographer. In 1996, he received the Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement in Ballet. In June 1998, he was named a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II.

Christopher was born in England in 1945 and started studying dance at 11 years old. After studying at the Rambert School, Christopher joined Ballet Rambert, where he quickly became the leading male dancer. In 1977, Christopher was was appointed the Associate Director and was Associate Choreographer from 1979 to 1987, where he created over twenty works for the company. Between 1986 and 1991 he acted as associate choreographer for London Festival Ballet (later English National Ballet), and in 1989, became resident choreographer for Houston Ballet. In 1994, he became the Artistic Director of Rambert Dance Company and led the company for 10 years.

As a choreographer, Christopher Bruce was undoubtedly stimulated by the variety and experimentation of Ballet Rambert in the 1960s, creating over twenty works for the company. During his career, he has choreographed for a wide range of productions including musicals, plays for the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, operas, television, and video.

Although his productions have been mounted throughout the world, Mr. Bruce has developed special relationships with a number of companies, including Houston Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theater, Royal Danish Ballet, Cullberg Ballet, English National Ballet, Gulbenkian Ballet, and Le Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneva. Among his best known works are Cruel Garden, Ghost Dances, Sergeant Early’s Dream, Intimate Pages, The Dream is Over, Swansong, and Rooster, all of which have been televised.

Jeanette Keane

Email: [email protected]

Having worked in the arts sector for the past 20 years in both in Canada and Ireland, Jeanette’s previous positions held in marketing and development include: Dance Ireland; arts consulting company Genovese Vanderhoof and Associates; Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Crawford Art Gallery; and The Abbey Theatre.

She has been a board director of Ballet Ireland and The College of Dance. She is currently a board member of Dublin Youth Dance Company.

As a former professional dancer, Jeanette has also produced work in Toronto and continues to teach ballet for CoisCeim Dance Theatre.

PRIVACY POLICY

Last updated March 25, 2021

Thank you for choosing to be part of our community at The National Ballet of Ireland, doing business as Ballet Ireland (“Ballet Ireland“, “we“, “us“, “our“). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy notice, or our practices with regards to your personal information, please contact us at [email protected].

When you visit our website https://www.balletireland.ie (the “Website“), and more generally, use any of our services (the “Services“, which include the Website), we appreciate that you are trusting us with your personal information. We take your privacy very seriously. In this privacy notice, we seek to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it and what rights you have in relation to it. We hope you take some time to read through it carefully, as it is important. If there are any terms in this privacy notice that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our Services immediately.

This privacy notice applies to all information collected through our Services (which, as described above, includes our Website), as well as, any related services, sales, marketing or events.

Please read this privacy notice carefully as it will help you understand what we do with the information that we collect.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Personal information you disclose to us

In Short: We collect personal information that you provide to us.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the Website or otherwise when you contact us.

The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Website, the choices you make and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

Personal Information Provided by You. We collect names; phone numbers; email addresses; mailing addresses; contact preferences; billing addresses; debit/credit card numbers; and other similar information.

Payment Data. We may collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number (such as a credit card number), and the security code associated with your payment instrument. All payment data is stored by Stripe. You may find their privacy notice link(s) here: https://stripe.com/en-ie/privacy.

All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.

Information automatically collected

In Short: Some information — such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our Website.

We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use or navigate the Website. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Website and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Website, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies.

The information we collect includes:

Log and Usage Data. Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Website and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type and settings and information about your activity in the Website (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called ‘crash dumps’) and hardware settings).

Device Data. We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet or other device you use to access the Website. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system and system configuration information.

Location Data. We collect location data such as information about your device’s location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the Website. For example, we may use GPS and other technologies to collect geolocation data that tells us your current location (based on your IP address). You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. Note however, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the Services.

HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

In Short: We process your information for purposes based on legitimate business interests, the fulfillment of our contract with you, compliance with our legal obligations, and/or your consent.

We use personal information collected via our Website for a variety of business purposes described below. We process your personal information for these purposes in reliance on our legitimate business interests, in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, with your consent, and/or for compliance with our legal obligations. We indicate the specific processing grounds we rely on next to each purpose listed below.

We use the information we collect or receive:

To facilitate account creation and logon process. If you choose to link your account with us to a third-party account (such as your Google or Facebook account), we use the information you allowed us to collect from those third parties to facilitate account creation and logon process for the performance of the contract.

To post testimonials. We post testimonials on our Website that may contain personal information. Prior to posting a testimonial, we will obtain your consent to use your name and the content of the testimonial. If you wish to update, or delete your testimonial, please contact us at [email protected] and be sure to include your name, testimonial location, and contact information.

Request feedback. We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Website.

To enable user-to-user communications. We may use your information in order to enable user-to-user communications with each user’s consent.

To manage user accounts. We may use your information for the purposes of managing our account and keeping it in working order.

To send administrative information to you. We may use your personal information to send you product, service and new feature information and/or information about changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.

To protect our Services. We may use your information as part of our efforts to keep our Website safe and secure (for example, for fraud monitoring and prevention).

To enforce our terms, conditions and policies for business purposes, to comply with legal and regulatory requirements or in connection with our contract.

To respond to legal requests and prevent harm. If we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond.

Fulfill and manage your orders. We may use your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the Website.

Administer prize draws and competitions. We may use your information to administer prize draws and competitions when you elect to participate in our competitions.

To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user. We may use your information to provide you with the requested service.

To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users. We may use your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the use of our Services.

To send you marketing and promotional communications. We and/or our third-party marketing partners may use the personal information you send to us for our marketing purposes, if this is in accordance with your marketing preferences. For example, when expressing an interest in obtaining information about us or our Website, subscribing to marketing or otherwise contacting us, we will collect personal information from you. You can opt-out of our marketing emails at any time (see the “WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS” below).

Deliver targeted advertising to you. We may use your information to develop and display personalized content and advertising (and work with third parties who do so) tailored to your interests and/or location and to measure its effectiveness.

For other business purposes. We may use your information for other business purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Website, products, marketing and your experience. We may use and store this information in aggregated and anonymized form so that it is not associated with individual end users and does not include personal information. We will not use identifiable personal information without your consent.

WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE?

In Short: We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services, to protect your rights, or to fulfill business obligations.

We may process or share your data that we hold based on the following legal basis:

Consent: We may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information for a specific purpose.

Legitimate Interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests.

Performance of a Contract: Where we have entered into a contract with you, we may process your personal information to fulfill the terms of our contract.

Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).

Vital Interests: We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.

More specifically, we may need to process your data or share your personal information in the following situations:

Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

Vendors, Consultants and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. Examples include: payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, hosting services, customer service and marketing efforts. We may allow selected third parties to use tracking technology on the Website, which will enable them to collect data on our behalf about how you interact with our Website over time. This information may be used to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content, pages or features, and better understand online activity. Unless described in this notice, we do not share, sell, rent or trade any of your information with third parties for their promotional purposes. We have contracts in place with our data processors, which are designed to help safeguard your personal information. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will also not share your personal information with any organization apart from us. They also commit to protect the data they hold on our behalf and to retain it for the period we instruct.

WHO WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH?

In Short: We only share information with the following third parties.

We only share and disclose your information with the following third parties. We have categorized each party so that you may be easily understand the purpose of our data collection and processing practices. If we have processed your data based on your consent and you wish to revoke your consent, please contact us using the contact details provided in the section below titled “HOW CAN WE CONTACT YOU ABOUT THIS NOTICE?“.

Invoice and Billing

Stripe

Social Media Sharing and Advertising

AddThis

Web and Mobile Analytics

Google Analytics

Website Hosting

WordPress.com

DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?

In Short: We may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information.

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. Specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies is set out in our Cookie Notice.

DO WE USE GOOGLE MAPS PLATFORM APIS?

In Short: Yes, we use Google Maps Platform APIs for the purpose of providing better service.

This Website uses Google Maps Platform APIs which are subject to Google’s Terms of Service. You may find the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service here. To find out more about Google’s Privacy Policy, please refer to this link.

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law.

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting or other legal requirements). No purpose in this notice will require us keeping your personal information for longer than 2 years.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?

In Short: We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security, and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Website is at your own risk. You should only access the Website within a secure environment.

DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?

In Short: We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age.

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Website, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Website. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at [email protected].

WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

In Short: In some regions, such as the European Economic Area, you have rights that allow you greater access to and control over your personal information. You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.

In some regions (like the European Economic Area), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; and (iv) if applicable, to data portability. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. To make such a request, please use the contact details provided below. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note however that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal, nor will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

If you are a resident in the European Economic Area and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm.

If you are a resident in Switzerland, the contact details for the data protection authorities are available here: https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home.html.

Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Website. To opt-out of interest-based advertising by advertisers on our Website visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.

DO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?

In Short: Yes, if you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.

If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with the Website, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Website. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Website, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g. backups, etc.).

DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO), Martin Lindinger, by email at [email protected], by phone at +353 46 955 7585, or by post to:

Ballet Ireland, The National Ballet of Ireland, Martin Lindinger, Agher, Summerhill, Meath A83 WK70, Ireland.

HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?

Based on the applicable laws of your country, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it in some circumstances. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please email: [email protected]. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

Jane Magan

Born in Dublin, Jane trained with Anne Campbell-Crawford at the Dublin School of Classical and Contemporary Dance and later at the Russian Ballet Centre. She continued her training at the Perm State Academy in Russia and at the Princess Grace Academy in Monte Carlo under Marika Besobrasova.

From 2001-2015 she worked with Ballet Ireland performing a range of roles in ballets such as the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, as well as more modern works such as Carmen by Morgann Runacre-Temple and Lost by Ludovic Ondiviela. She has also acted as rehearsal director, created works for the company’s choreographic platforms and worked extensively with the educational team. She has performed with Chrysalis Dance Company in works by director Judith Sibley and guest choreographer Theo Clinkard, with Goldenboy Productions in The King and I, Operaworks’ Orpheus, Whynot Dance Company, Lyric Opera and Opera de Monte Carlo as well as dance on film.

In 2003 and 2007 she was the recipient of a further training and development award from the Arts Council to study in New York. Jane was introduced to teaching at the Princess Grace Academy where all students assisted with the junior classes as part of their training. Her teaching work includes Irish National Youth Ballet, Regal Ballet and Kensington Ballet School in London, professional morning class for Dance Ireland and as a guest teacher for Youth Ballet West, Irish Ballet Forum and several Irish ballet schools.

In 2019 Jane received a B.A (Hons) degree in French and Classical Civilisation from Trinity College Dublin.

Deirdre McKenna

Deirdre graduated from the University of the West of England in 1998 with an Honours Degree in Physiotherapy. In 2002 Deirdre completed a Masters Degree in Sports Medicine from Dublin University, Trinity College. While in Trinity College, she undertook a body of research into Bone Mineral Density in female dancers in Ireland.

In 2004, Deirdre completed a Certificate in Orthopedic Manual Therapy at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. She completed her year in Australia by working in two private practices in Sydney. The first practice was dedicated to the treatment of dancers and their injuries, where she worked with Lisa Howell, amongst others. It also had a large fully equipped Pilates studio used in the rehabilitation of clients. It was here that Deirdre’s interest in Pilates for rehabilitation was born.

In 2006 she opened Brookwood Physiotherapy & Pilates Clinic. She trained as a STOTT PILATES instructor to advanced level in mat work in 2006 and has completed the Rehab Reformer instructor training with STOTT PILATES in 2010. In 2017, Deirdre completed her STOTT PILATES Intensive Reformer, Cadillac, Chair and Ladder Barrel training (www.merrithew.com). Deirdre currently teaches group matwork Pilates classes and equipment based workouts on a 1-2-1 basis.

In October 2011, Deirdre commenced working with Birmingham Royal Ballet as Company Physiotherapist, with whom she toured extensively both nationally in the UK and internationally. Her role with the company involved assessing, diagnosing and treating acute and chronic injuries for the 60 Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers, the ballet staff, the administrative staff and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.

Since returning to Dublin in 2013, Deirdre has been working with Ballet Ireland, The National Ballet Company of Ireland on a sessional basis as Company Physiotherapist.

She is a member of the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapy (www.iscp.ie), The International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (www.iadms.org) and The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (www.csp.org.uk).

Hayley Cunningham

Born in Dublin, Hayley started ballet at the Celbridge School of Ballet and was a member of the Irish National Youth Ballet for a number of years. At the age of 16 she decided to further her training at Northern Ballet School in Manchester. Subsequently, Hayley transferred to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to complete her training and graduated with a BA in Modern Ballet in 2015. After graduating, Hayley completed a Professional Graduate Programme at Northern Ballet in Leeds. She also participated in rehearsals and performances with the company in their productions of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. Hayley returned to Ireland in 2018 and joined Ballet Ireland touring the country and performing in the company’s production of The Nutcracker.

Hayley was first introduced to Pilates as a ballet dancer studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She fell in love with the benefits of Pilates not only for her ballet technique, but also for her overall health and well being. Hayley gained her Advanced Diploma in Matwork Pilates at the National Training Centre in association with Pilates Ireland.

Marguerite Donlon

Marguerite is an innovative, contemporary choreographer and performer based in Berlin. Known for her humour and profound creativity, her work thrills an unusually broad audience. With stylistic innovation, Irish wit and the combination of different art forms, Marguerite Donlon has pushed artistic limits to secure a place in the international dance scene.

A native of Ireland, Donlon’s childhood was marked by traditional Irish dance; only at the age of 16 did she begin professional ballet training. Her first engagement was with the English National Ballet. In 1990, she was invited as a soloist to the Deutsche Oper Berlin where she worked with dance legends such as Natalia Makarova, Rudolf Nureyev and Sir Kenneth MacMillan. Donlon, however, found her place working with and dancing the repertoire of the most influential contemporary choreographers, including William Forsythe, Maurice Béjart, Meg Stuart, Bill T. Jones and Jiří Kylián.

From 2001–2013, Marguerite was the ballet director and house choreographer at the Saarländisches Staatstheater (Saarland State Theater). The company, known as the Donlon Dance Company, impressed audiences with its own unique style and quickly became a respected and sought-after ensemble invited to perform throughout Europe, the USA and Asia. Donlon is also the initiator and artistic director of the International Dance Festival ‘N.O.W. Dance Saar’, launched in 2006.

In 2009, Marguerite founded ‘iMove’, a highly motived and successful youth dance company comprising of 24 young people from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds with little or no dance background. This ongoing project has proven what dance can do to bring these diverse groups together in harmony.

Donlon created a variety of dance works in the past 12 years showing her versatility yet loyalty to true self expression. For this she has been critically acclaimed worldwide. Part of that variety has been the refreshing re-interpretations of ballet classics.

The Yearbook ‘Dance’ paid several tributes to her and the company over the years announcing them as ‘Best Company of the Year’, ‘Best Production’, ‘Best Dancer’, or ‘Most important work for the arts’.Giselle-Reloadedwas nominated for the ‘Prix Benois de la Danse’ with its mixture of contemporary dance and Irish traditional dance which has become a strong motif in her work. Romeo und Juliawas nominated for the German Theatre Prize ‘Die Faust’.

Marguerite Donlon has created choreographies for dance companies worldwide. Her work has been performed most recently by prima ballerina Svetlana Zacharova and the Bolshoi Ballet. She has also created for companies such as the Nederlands Dans Theater 2 (NDT), the Stuttgart Ballet, Berlin Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Company in Chicago, Rambert Dance in London, the Companhia Nacional de Bailado (CNB) Portugal, Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz Munich, Musiktheater im Revier (MiR) Gelsenkirchen and The One Grand Show, Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin.

Donlon sees dance as a social connector and a tool to communicate on various levels. In 2012, she launched a large scale environmental awareness project about the growing problem of plastic in our oceans. After meeting environmentalist David De Rothschild and brainstorming together, she created a dance piece called Blue. She also created an interactive sculpture which involved 8.000 children collecting plastic bottle tops to fill the sculpture. This sculpture Plastic Oceanwas subsequently invited to Frankfurt to open the Eco Arts Festival and later was invited to tour Greece to help promote awareness to the problem. As a result, Donlon was invited to the world summit for water pollution in Berlin to talk about how dance can reach so many people through a positive approach and how this can influence scientific and political endeavours.

Before leaving Saarbruecken and her company after 12 years, Marguerite Donlon created the ‘ZeichenTanz’ or ‘Sign Dance’. This project enabled hard of hearing audience members to better enjoy dance performances through the signing of music. She is currently working to introduce “ZeichenTanz” to other companies and theatres in Germany. Donlon is a pioneer at heart and her tool to reach out and communicate is through the performing arts. She is open minded and enjoys pushing boundaries together with teams of passionate people.

In addition to her artistic activities, Marguerite was awarded Medal of Merit by the Minister President of Saarland for her outstanding artistic work for the Saarland. In 2017, she received a Civic Reception in honour of her distinguished career as a ballet director and her acclaimed achievements in the world of dance. She was appointed by the Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland to be a member of the Global Irish Network in 2012. In 2009, Donlon was invited to be a member of the Presidium of the Federal German ballet and dance theatre directors conference (BBTK) and was invited as an honorary member in 2013. In 2014, she became an accredited PCT and RD1^st Business Coach and Leadership Mentor and combines her creative work and coaching skills in the world of business to enhance creative thinking and team building.

Filipe Portugal

Filipe was born in 1978 in Lisbon where he studied ballet at the National Conservatory of Portugal.

After finishing his studies he was invited by the director Jorge Salavisa to join the National Ballet of Portugal as a member of the Corps de Ballet. After six years, he left the company as a soloist to join the Ballett Zürich under the direction of Heinz Spoerli where he had danced for seven years. He left Ballett Zürich as a principal dancer to return to Portugal with the same category but his stay was only for a short period of time. A year and a half later he returned to Zürich where he danced as a principal dancer under the direction of Christian Spuck.

Filipe made his debut as a choreographer in Portugal for a choreographic workshop with the piece Anfractus (2001), which was chosen to become part of the company’s repertoire. After that he has choreographed Alleged Dances (2007) for the Junior Ballet Zürich, Road B (2007) for Zürich Ballett and Sonata (2008) again for the Junior Ballet, all under the direction of Heinz Spoerli.

Under the direction of Christian Spuck, he created for the Young Choreographers a piece called Silk Road (2013) and was asked to create a duet for the Sylvester Gala 2013, Liebestod. The year after he created another piece for the Young Choreographers Different Trains (2014) and was invited to create for the Junior Ballet Zürich, Tauwetter (2014). Shortly after this, he made his first creation for Ballet Zürich under Spuck’s direction, called Diaologos.

Filipe also created Masqueradein 2015 for the Zürich Opera Ballet and two pieces for the Dance Academy Zurich (TAZ) under the direction of Oliver Mats and Steffi Scherzer: Uncontrolled (2015) and Piazzola(2015). In 2017 he created a duet for the Junior Ballet Zürich Behind the Mirror and for Ballett Zürich disTANZ.

2018 was the year of his North American debut with the piece Stepping Over that he created for the Charlotte Ballet. He also created Heavy Lightness for the evening of Noverre-Young Choreographers 2018 at the Stuttgart Ballet. Shortly after that, he created O não efémero for young Portuguese talents and Echo of Elements for Junior Ballet Zürich.

In 2023, Filipe created All That Remains for Ballet Ireland.

Ohad Naharin

Ohad Naharin is the House Choreographer of Batsheva Dance Company and creator of the Gaga movement language.

Naharin was born in 1952 in Mizra, Israel. His mother is a choreographer, dance teacher and Feldenkrais instructor, and his father was an actor and psychologist. He joined Batsheva Dance Company in 1974 despite having little formal training. During his first year, guest choreographer Martha Graham invited him to join her own company in New York. Between 1975 and 1976, Naharin studied at the School of American Ballet, The Juilliard School, and with Maggie Black and David Howard. He then joined Maurice Béjart’s Ballet du XXe Siecle in Brussels for one season.

Naharin returned to New York in 1979 and made his choreographic debut at the Kazuko Hirabayshi studio the following year. From 1980 until 1990, Naharin presented works in New York and abroad, including pieces for Batsheva Dance Company, the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, and Nederlands Dans Theater. At the same time, he worked with his first wife, Mari Kajiwara, and a group of dancers in New York. Naharin and Kajiwara continued to work together until she died from cancer in 2001.

In 1990, Naharin was appointed Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company, and in the same year, he established the company’s junior division, Batsheva – the Young Ensemble. He has since created over thirty works for both companies. After almost thirty years of leading Batsheva, Naharin stepped down as Artistic Director in 2018, and continues to serve as the Company’s House Choreographer.

In addition to his stagework, Naharin also developed GAGA, an innovative movement language based on research into heightening sensation and imagination, becoming aware of form, finding new movement habits, and going beyond familiar limits. GAGA is the daily training of Batsheva’s dancers and has spread globally among both dancers and non-dancers.

Naharin trained in music throughout his childhood and continues to infuse his work with a unique musicality. He collaborated with the Israeli rock group, The Tractor’s Revenge (Kyr, 1990), Avi Balleli and Dan Makov (Anaphaza, 1993), Ivri Lider (Z/na, 1995), and Grischa Lichtenberger (Last Work, 2015). Under the pseudonym Maxim Waratt, he composed music for MAX (2007) and edited and mixed the soundtracks for Mamootot (2003), Hora (2009), Sadeh21 (2011), The Hole (2013), Last Work (2015) and Venezuela (2017).

Naharin’s work has also been featured in several films. In his 2007 documentary, Out of Focus, Director Tomer Heymann filmed the process of restaging Decadance with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. And in 2015, the Heymann Brothers released their comprehensive documentary about Naharin, Mr. Gaga, to critical and audience acclaim.

A citizen of both Israel and the United States, Naharin currently lives in Israel with his wife, dancer and costume designer Eri Nakamura, and their daughter, Noga.

Zoë Ashe-Browne

Zoë is a dance artist and choreographer from Dublin. Since completing her professional training with the English National Ballet School in London, she has danced for companies and choreographers all over Europe. Her first professional engagement was with Ballet Ireland in 2009. During her time with the company she danced the title roles of Carmen and Juliet which were both choreographed by Morgann Runacre-Temple and performed in theatres all over Ireland and the UK.

Zoë subsequently went on to be professionally engaged with English National Ballet Company, Peter Schaufuss Ballett (Denmark) and Ballett Vorpommern (Germany). Zoë’s choreographic practice has been supported by The Arts Council of Ireland and Dance Ireland.

In 2016 Zoë choreographed and performed in the short Dance film Ballet Átha Cliath, which was directed by Howard Jones and featured an original score by Irish band Cloud Castle Lake. The film has most recently been accepted to the LA dance shorts film festival in the USA. In 2017 she was shortlisted for a best dancer nomination in Germany’s Der Faust Awards for her role of Rebecca in Ralf Dörnen’s Rebecca’s schatten a ballet adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel, Rebecca.

In August 2018 Zoë joined The Royal Ballet of Flanders as a full time member of the ensemble.

Morgann Runacre-Temple

Morgann is a freelance choreographer from London working in ballet, contemporary dance, theatre, film and opera. She has created work for Northern Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Scottish Ballet, English National Ballet, Ballet Central, The Print Room, Images of Dance, Northern Ballet Choreographic Lab 2016, Royal Ballet Participation, BBC Young Dancer of the Year 2017 and Wilton’s Music Hall.

Morgann was choreographer in residence at Ballet Ireland from 2009- 2015, creating over five full-length ballets including: Cinderella, Romeo & Juliet, Carmen and Coppélia.

In partnership with Jessica Wright, Morgann directs and choreographs dance films. Credits include: The Try Out for RANDOM ACTS Channel 4, The Last Resort (English National Ballet & TATE Liverpool) and Curing Albrecht (English National Ballet & Manchester International Festival, available on BBC iPlayer) Curing Albrecht won Best Film 2018 at NRDFF and Best Director at Portland Dance Film Festival.

Morgann has worked as a movement director and choreographer in opera and theatre, working with directors including Sam Brown (Barber of Seville WNO), Jeff James (Persuasion, Royal Exchange) and assisting choreographer Annie B Parsons on Enda Walsh and David Bowie’s musical Lazarus, directed by Ivo Van Hove.

As a dancer, Morgann performed for Ballet Ireland, English National Ballet, Rosie Kay Dance Company and the Curve Foundation. She trained at Central School of Ballet and London Contemporary Dance School and was a recipient of Dance East Rural Retreat Award for Future Dance Leaders 16/17.

Ludovic Ondiviela

Ludovic was born in Perpignan, France. He trained in Marseille Studio Ballet Colette Armand and two years later won a scholarship in the 2001 Prix de Lausanne to study at The Royal Ballet Upper School. Other awards included a Silver Medal at the 2000 Concours International de Danse, Paris, and a Gold Medal at the Roseta Mauri Competition in 2002. In his graduation year he performed the lead in Wheeldon’s Le Voyage and a Principal couple in Concerto at the School’s annual matinee.

He went on to join the Royal Ballet and his repertory included Bronze Idol (La Bayadère), Hans-Peter/Nutcracker (The Nutcracker), Tom Thumb (Tales of Beatrix Potter), Alain (La Fille Mal Gardée), Kolia (A Month in the Country) and Puck (The Dream). He created roles in Children of Adam, Chroma and ‘Trespass’ (Metamorphosis: Titian 2012), and various other creations by Wayne McGregor, Liam Scarlet and Christopher Weeldon.

His choreography regularly features in The Royal Ballet’s Draft Works, Young Choreographer’s evening, and across several galas around Europe. Ludovic created Dopamine (you make my levels go silly) for the 2013 Ballet Black season and Berlin for ‘Men in Motion’. Since leaving the Royal Ballet in October 2014, Ludovic created and directed his first full-length work Cassandra which opened at the ROH Linbury Theatre. He has choreographed 4 times 4 for the Gandini Company which opened in November 2014 at the Royal Opera House as part of the London Mime Festival.

In 2015 he created Lost for Ballet Ireland. He then created The Memories of Francesca Woodman for the Northern Ballet Choreographic lab and in March 2016, Ludovic created Sliver of Sky for Amnesty International which was performed at Sadlers Wells, London. More recently, Ludovic has choreographed for various commercials, including a collaboration with Jordan Scott / RSA films.

Ludovic created a new Virtual Reality project in collaboration with DJ Seth Troxler and film director Ryan Hope, and a new work commissioned by Makeshift company, Insomniac’s Fable which premiered in Helsinki in 2018.

Ludovic created Giselle for Ballet Ireland in 2017.

AUDITIONS

Auditions for the 2023 Spring Season have now closed. For future audition opportunities, please check back periodically.

Requests to join company class are strictly limited.

Please email: [email protected] for more information.

Una O’Hare

Una is a former General Manager and Director of Irish Times Training, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Irish Times. She was responsible for the delivery of over 55 open programmes and a range of in-company activities in both public and private sector organisations. Since 2008, she has had responsibility for Executive Education programmes with Ulster University and large scale Solas initiatives.

Una is a former General Manager of ireland.com and has held a number of senior management roles in Irish media companies. She is a graduate of DIT and the University of Leicester and is a regular visitor at Boston College USA.

(Appointed to the Board February 2016)

Martin Lindinger

Email: [email protected]

Martin was born in Munich, Germany, and undertook his formal dance training at the Royal Ballet School in London, England. His education there provided the technical foundation and artistic discipline that would shape a distinguished professional career spanning more than two decades.

During his performing career, Martin danced with several internationally acclaimed companies, including Rambert Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (USA), The National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC (Canada), and Scottish Ballet. His repertoire encompassed a wide range of contemporary and modern works, and he collaborated with numerous prominent choreographers throughout his tenure. In recognition of his artistic excellence, Martin was awarded the U.K. Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Male Artist (Modern) in 2003.

Alongside his work as a performer, Martin developed a significant profile as a répétiteur, choreographic assistant, and rehearsal specialist. He served as guest répétiteur at the Croatian National Ballet for the re-staging of Ashley Page’s full-length ballet Alice. He has also held the position of Assistant Choreographer on major operatic works, including Orfeo ed Eurydice for Scottish Opera and Krol Roger for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, contributing to the creative process and rehearsal direction for both productions.

Martin’s commitment to dancer training is reflected in his extensive teaching experience with leading organisations such as Ballet BC (Canada), Charlotte Ballet (USA), Scottish Ballet, and Ballet Ireland. His work in pedagogical settings emphasises both technical refinement and professional readiness, supporting the artistic development of dancers at various stages of their careers.

In 2015, Martin joined Ballet Ireland as Rehearsal Director, overseeing the coaching, preparation, and artistic continuity of the company’s repertoire. In March 2017, he was appointed General Manager, a role in which he continues to provide strategic leadership and support the company’s national and international activities.

ANNE MAHER

Email: [email protected]

Dublin-born Anne Maher is one of Ireland’s most respected voices in ballet and dance, with an international career spanning over thirty-five years. Trained initially by Myrtle Lambkin in Dublin, she has worked with the major figures of Ireland’s ballet world, including Irish Ballet Company founder, Joan Denise Moriarty and Dublin City Ballet’s Janet Lewis.

Anne was awarded a scholarship by the late Princess Grace of Monaco, to study at L’Acadamie de Danse Classique in Monte Carlo under Marika Besobrasova. Following her training in Monaco, Anne danced for the British Ballet Theatre in London and as Principal Ballerina touring all over Europe with Wiener Ballett Theater. Her roles include Odette/Odile (Swan Lake), Sugar Plum Fairy (Nutcracker), Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Queen of the Willis (Giselle), and a range of various modern works.

Anne returned to Ireland in 1997 to found Ballet Ireland, which she continues to develop as a successful and vibrant national touring company. She also founded Irish Ballet Forum, a resource organisation that provides master classes, intensive courses and information for Ireland’s aspiring young dancers.

Anne continues to be one of this country’s biggest advocates for ballet and dance. She is former chairperson of Dance Ireland and a former board member of Theatre Forum Ireland.

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