blog

BALLET IRELAND SUITE OF BURSARIES 2020

 

We are delighted to announce the recipients of this years awards below:

 


BURSARY 1 – CONTEMPORARY CHOREOGRAPHER

 

Purpose of the Award:

The purpose of this award is to support the development of the work of a contemporary choreographer who wishes to explore working with Ballet Artists. Ballet Ireland wishes to encourage a wide range of choreographic practice within the ballet genre. This will enrich and advance the art form and produce exciting and innovative new work. There will be no requirement to achieve a completed work capable of being performed either live or online. The work may be used to apply for other funding programmes offered by other funding organisations or authorities in the future.

What the award will provide:

Ballet Ireland will provide up to six ballet artists and studio space over two weeks. The successful applicant will receive a fee of €1,500.

Awarded to: Luke Murphy

Originally from Cork City, Luke is a performer and choreographer based between Cork, New York and Brussels.

Performer with Ultima Vez (2014-2017) touring internationally in productions Booty Looting, Spiritual Unity and In Spite of Wishing and Wanting Punchdrunk (2009-2017), as an Original Cast member of Sleep No More in New York City and Shanghai as well as productions of Sleep No More in Boston and The Drowned Man in London.

Additional company experience includes Kate Weare Company (2011-2014), Pavel Zustiak Palissimo Company (2011-2013), Martha Clarke (2010-2011), Erik Hawkins Dance 2008-2010 and projects with, John Kelly, John Scott, Janis Brenner, Heidi Latsky, Sean Curran, Jonah Bokaer and Bill T Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company.

Luke is Artistic Director of Attic Projects – based between Ireland and New York. He has created five evening length works Drenched (2012), Icarus (2013) Your Own Man/Mad Notions (2015), On Triumph and Trauma (2016) The Dust We Raised (2017) performing across Ireland, UK and US.

Now in its fifth year, Luke is curator and producer of Catch8: A festival of masterclass workshops focused on training, creativity and sharing, and new opportunities for professional dancers taught by leading national and international dance professionals, as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival in June.

 

 

 

 

BURSARY 2 – EMERGING CHOREOGRAPHER

 

Purpose of the Award:

The purpose of this award is to mentor an emerging young choreographer to support and encourage them as they begin the exploration into choreographic practice. We will assist with practical help such as making applications and advise on producing work.

What the award will provide:

Ballet Ireland will provide mentorship over an agreed period and practical support such as making funding applications, advice on producing work and putting together budgets. We will contribute an award of €500 to support their practice. This may be used as the artist sees fit, but perhaps ideally to enable them to take time out from other work in order to focus on choreography. Notional value of mentorship support = €1,500.

Awarded to: Roisin Whelan

Roisin started her training in the Ballet Barn in Carlow under the direction of Aedeen O’Hagan and Adele Mealy.

Later she joined the Shawbrook Youth Dance Company and Dublin Youth Dance Company under the direction of Anica Louw and Mariam Ribon. Roisin then spent a year training at the Inchicore College of Further Education under the dance studies umbrella and then auditioned successfully for the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Roisin completed her Bachelor in Performing Arts, graduating with a first class honours. 

Upon graduating Roisin joined Black Box Dance Company (Denmark) as an apprentice for the 2018/2019 season and performed in works by Jason Mabana, Marie Brolin-Tani, Stephanie Thomson/ Thomas Brentin and Tim Rushton, touring across Sweden and Denmark. During this time Roisin also completed her Masters in Performance and graduated with distinction. 

In 2019, Roisin joined Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures for their UK tour of Romeo and Juliet where she performed for seven months in cities across the UK. From October 2019, Roisin joined the company as a dance artist, teaching the companies work to children and adults across the UK . Following this tour, Roisin 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 projects.

 

 

 

 

BURSARY 3 – APPRENTICESHIP

 

Purpose of the Award:

The purpose of this award is to provide the pre-professional ballet dancer with the opportunity to work alongside the professional dancers of Ballet Ireland to gain valuable professional experience in their transition from student to professional artist.

What the award will provide:

Ballet Ireland will provide support and mentorship throughout rehearsals and our Dublin season. The successful applicant will train daily with the company during rehearsal periods and will understudy suitable roles in the current rep. Where deemed appropriate, they will be afforded performance opportunities. The applicant will be “buddied” with a professional artist from the company who will mentor them during their time with the company. The successful applicant will be paid a pro rata apprenticeship payment to the value €1,500.

Awarded to: Emer Lenihan

Born in Galway, Emer started her training at the Regina Rogers School of Ballet. She then furthered her practice at the London Russian Ballet School and the Brussels International Ballet School. In 2019, Emer competed at Grand Prix Kiev and was awarded the 2nd Jury Prize. 

Skip to content