Blog
Summer Intensive
Find out about Ballet Ireland’s Summer Intensive Training Programme 18-22 July in Dublin
Find out about Ballet Ireland’s Summer Intensive Training Programme 18-22 July in Dublin
Dominic was born in Sheffield and started dancing at the age of four at Bailey Cox School. At the age of 16, he continued his training at Central School of Ballet in London and during his third year toured with Ballet Central, performing in work by Christopher Bruce, Christopher Hampson, and Darshan Singh Bhuller.
After graduating, Dominic worked with Northern Ballet, Scottish Ballet, English National Ballet and Ballet Ireland. Dominic has also worked with Ballet Vorpommern and Würzburg. From 2019, he was a freelance artist. Dominic rejoined Ballet Ireland in 2021 and performed in the company’s productions of Carmen, Nutcracker Sweeties, Cinderella, Strokes Through the Tail, Bold Moves 2022 & Bold Moves 2024.
Dominic was promoted to Rehearsal Director in 2024.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 performed in Walking Mad by Johan Inger & Stepping Over by Filipe Portugal.
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)
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.
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.
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)
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 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)
Ballet Ireland is planning a number of different strands of work over the coming months.
Please check back periodically.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Amelia trained at Miss Sutcliffe’s Academy of Dance, The Royal Ballet School and Tring Park. Whilst a student, she worked with The Royal Ballet Company and Northern Ballet Theatre, and during her final year of training was awarded Dance Direct’s ‘Student Ballet Dancer of the Year’.
Upon graduation she joined Scottish Ballet as an artist, performing works such as The Nutcracker, The Crucible and Elite Syncopations. She also performed with Ballet Cymru and Peter Schaufuss Ballet Company before joining Ballet Ireland where she performed works by Morgann Runacre-Temple, Ohad Naharin, Christopher Hampson, Gunther Falusy and Ludovic Ondiviela.
She has also worked with Arielle Smith, Drew McOnie, Jenna Lee and International Arts Collective for various productions worldwide, and can be spotted in the films Avengers: Age of Ultron and Love Sarah. More recently, she has been working alongside Arielle Smith as Movement Rehearsal Director for her production of Carrie.
Alongside her performing career, Amelia has always had a passion for teaching and has worked for The National Youth Ballet of Great Britain since 2015. She currently teaches at Ballet Boost, Elite Ballet Project and founded Tunbridge Wells Ballet Workshops in 2020, with the aim to give young dancers the opportunity to learn more about professional dance in a fun, supportive environment.
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 RD1st 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.
Email: [email protected]
Martin was born in Munich, Germany. He trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, England. Martin’s professional dance career spanned over twenty years and included working in companies such as Rambert Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (USA), The National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC (Canada) and Scottish Ballet. In 2003, he was the recipient of the U.K. Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Male Artist (modern).
Martin has also worked as guest répétiteur at the Croatian National Ballet for the re-staging of Ashley Page’s full-length ballet Alice, as Assistant Choreographer on Orfeo ed Eurydice at Scottish Opera and also as Assistant Choreographer on Krol Roger at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. His teaching credits include: Ballet BC (Canada), Charlotte Ballet (USA), Scottish Ballet and Ballet Ireland.
After becoming Rehearsal Director for Ballet Ireland in 2015, Martin was promoted to General Manager in March 2017.
Martin is a guest lecturer in Dance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
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.
Laura was born in Madrid, Spain. She completed her dance studies at the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Danza de Madrid before joining the Stuttgart Ballet. After leaving Stuttgart, she decided to pursue a career as a freelance dancer and was subsequently invited to participate in projectswith Tamara Rojo, Goyo Montero and Patrick de Bana among others. Laura was invited to join English National Ballet where she worked for more than six years and had the opportunity to perform in stand-out soloist roles throughout the repertoire. In 2012 she joined the Ballet de la Generalitat Valenciana as a soloist dancer where she had the opportunity to focus her career to a more contemporary style, this included performing works by Nacho Duato, Ramón Oller, Thierry Malandain, Ohad Naharin and Marcos Morau.
After finishing her experience as a dancer, she began her career as a répétiteur with Valencia Dancing Forward. Laura was also a guest teacher at the Choreographic Centre of Valencia, Ballet Nacional de Marseille, Ballet Basel and various other professional schools in Spain.
Laura has also explored her own choreographic path with works that have included: Caprichos (Palau de les Arts Valencia and VDF2017), Cuadros de un exposición (Unión Musical Santa Cecilia), Mozart und tanz (Palau de les Arts Valencia)and Ma mere l’oye (VDF2018 and Orquesta de Extremadura).
Email: [email protected]
Stephen started dance training at the Elliott-Clarke School in Liverpool, underwent further training at Bush Davies Schools in East Grinstead, Sussex, before graduating from Central School of Ballet, London.
His performing career has spanned some thirty years, dancing with many of Europe’s ballet companies including London Ballet Theatre, Malmö Stadsteater Balett (Sweden), The National Norwegian Ballet and The Scottish Ballet.
Stephen joined Ballet Ireland in 1999 and since his appointment as Education Officer a year later, has developed the company’s extensive outreach programme. He has choreographed two short works for Ballet Ireland, ‘Figaro, Factotem’ (2003) and ‘School for Lovers’ (2004), and over thirty works for performance by children and young adults.
In addition to his work with Ballet Ireland, Stephen has collaborated several times with productions for Irish National Youth Ballet and is a former Board Member of Irish Ballet Forum.
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.
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.
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.
A highly experienced Marketing Communications leader with specialist expertise in strategic planning and creativity, Leo Moore is currently the Global Director of the Creative Systems team at Meta, leading the global strategy, channel, and content teams for Meta’s Creative Shop.
Over the last six years at Meta, Leo has 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)
Louise completed her undergraduate degree in European Studies from Trinity College Dublin and has a Masters in European Economic and Public Affairs from UCD. Louise trained in Matheson Ormsby Prentice Solicitors (now Matheson Solicitors) in Dublin and qualified in 2005. On qualification she worked in the areas of EC law and Litigation & Regulatory law and during that time she also completed a Masters in EC Competition Law from Kings College London. In early 2012, Louise joined the Central Bank of Ireland where she is currently working.
Louise has co-authored and published a number of articles on EC, Competition law and Regulatory law. She lectures and tutors European law in the law school of the Law Society and is Vice Chairperson of the Law Society’s EU & International Affairs Committee.
(Appointed to the Board September 2014)
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)
Christopher is a globally-engaged nonprofit leader serving iconic nonprofit institutions, and high-net-worth individuals, in pursuit of meaningful impact and lasting change.
Mr. Conway launched his career assisting Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter pursue an innovative global health agenda at The Carter Center of Emory University. Past President & Executive Director of The Joffrey Ballet, Mr. Conway also held key development positions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and forged an historic partnership between the Doheny Eye Institute and UCLA Stein Eye Institute.
A sought after speaker and consultant, Mr. Conway is well known for equal emphasis on outcomes, efficiency and style. He is oft-quoted on questions of tax and complex gifts, most recently featured on Bloomberg Television and in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, W Magazine, and Town & Country. Mr. Conway has a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Mr. Conway was a Visiting Scholar in Gift & Estate Tax, Northwestern University. Mr. Conway obtained his J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.
(Appointed to the Board October 2021)
Simon has been Chief Financial Officer at Three Ireland since July 2012.
Previous to this appointment, he was Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Head of Planning, Evaluations and Commercial Finance and Head of Finance Supply Logistics at the company.
He also served as Head of Corporate Project Accounting at H3G and holds a BSc in Economics and Accountancy from Loughborough University.
(Appointed to the Board October 2021)
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)
