Over the last 25 years, Liz’s work has been presented throughout Ireland and internationally at prestigious venues and festivals, including the Baryshnikov Arts Centre New York, South Bank Centre London and Powerhouse Brisbane. She has been commissioned by The Abbey Theatre – National Theatre of Ireland, Dublin Dance Festival, Cork Opera House, The National Ballet of China, Solas Nua, Goethe Institut, The National Gallery of Ireland, Scottish Dance Theatre and CoisCéim and has choreographed extensively in opera and theatre for companies including Irish National Opera, Rossini Opera Festival, Liceu Barcelona, The Abbey Theatre, Landmark Productions and The Gate. In 2020 Liz was elected to Aosdána.

Moyra  has over 30 years’ experience working in dance, theatre, film and events. In that time, she worked as a lighting designer, a production manager, an administrator and a producer. This included five years working on feature films in the production office and 15 years touring theatre nationally and internationally as production manager and lighting designer. Moyra took over Liz Roche Company as Executive Director in January 2016 and oversaw eight years of rapid growth.

Miranda is a senior arts manager and multidisciplinary producer with 17 years’ experience across art forms. Most recently she was the Executive Director of Solas Nua, Washington, D.C. and Visual Arts Curator-in-Residence at the Irish Arts Center, New York. Between 2014 and 2019 she was Artistic Director of Sirius Arts Centre, Cork and Co-Founder/Director of the Joinery, Dublin (2007-2014). Her commissions, projects and collaborations have spanned across a diversity of disciplines including visual art, music, dance, literature, theatre and a film festival.

Carla is an accomplished and strategic arts manager and administrator with over 20 years’ experience leading high-profile dance and cultural initiatives across Ireland and internationally. She previously served as Company Manager for John Scott’s Irish Modern Dance Theatre, where she oversaw company operations, national and international productions, financial management, governance, and strategic development.

Her portfolio includes curating and directing the NOISE Moves Youth Dance Festival, managing major public-sector cultural programmes such as Creative Ireland South Dublin and Cruinniú na nÓg South Dublin, initiating Emergence, a mentoring programme for early-career choreographers with South Dublin County Arts Office and working as a dance educator for the New York City Department of Education.

With a background in performance, choreography, education, and cross-sector collaboration, she brings a proven track record of delivering complex, artist-centred projects with creativity, precision, and care. She combines hands-on operational and financial expertise with a deep commitment to Ireland’s dance landscape, advancing excellence, inclusion, sustainability, and organisational growth within the contemporary arts sector.

Seán Dennehy is a production manager, technician and live art practitioner across a range of disciplines including theatre, visual arts and music.

As well as production management for live theatre he has regularly acted as a venue manager and technician for such festivals as Dublin Dance Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival and Dublin Theatre Festival.

He has worked for and collaborated with such companies as Dead Centre, CoisCéim Dance Theatre and Anú among many others in over twenty years as an arts worker in Ireland and England.

Niamh is an established communications professional with over ten years of experience working on arts campaigns and projects across the non-profit sector. Niamh has a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University, and an MA in Community Education from Maynooth University. She has written widely for Irish publications, has worked on local and grassroots political campaigns, produced audio and programmed work for festivals, and has worked as a PR consultant and strategic communicator across multiple disciplines. Notable campaigns include the inaugural Women on Walls campaign for the Royal Irish Academy and Accenture, marketing and communications for Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks, Show Up! for The Arts Council, Women Walk the City for Brigit: Dublin City Celebrating Women, among others. Niamh brings her interest in community education and engagement to all of her work.

Michelle has over ten years’ experience as a producer and arts administrator across dance, theatre and live performance. Previously she worked as a performer and in dance education and community arts. As a freelance producer, she worked with independent artists and companies presenting work at major festivals and venues in Ireland, and managed national and international tours. She has also worked in various roles with festivals, arts organisations and for Gap Day in association with Mermaid Arts Centre. Michelle is a graduate of Trinity Laban and holds a PG Cert in Creative Arts Management from the University of Galway.

Alisson has over 17 years’ experience in Marketing, Project Management, and Digital Communication. He specialises in branding, visual storytelling, and comms strategy, with a background in leading creative campaigns for arts and cultural organisations. He has worked with several organisations across Ireland, including the Hunt Museum, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick School of Art and Design, Clare Arts, and Project Arts Centre, and has also contributed to Ireland at the Biennale di Venezia, Europe Beyond Access and Europeana Archaeology. Through his creative studio, he has also supported arts organisations with motion & still, and interdisciplinary creative projects. He holds an MBA in Business Management and Marketing, alongside a BSc in Advertising & Social Communications.

Amanda Coogan is an internationally recognised and critically acclaimed artist working across the medias of live art, sculpture, installation and photography. Her works are immersive, non-verbal, embodied experiences. Her expertise lies in her ability to condense an idea to its very essence and communicate it through her body. Sign Language is a touchstone, born hearing to Deaf parents, this visual and manual upbringing deeply informs her practice. Her 2015 exhibition in the Dublin’s RHA; I’ll sing you a song from around the Town, was described by Artforum as ‘performance art at its best’. Using gesture and context Coogan makes multi-faceted works that leave ghostly trails in the memory. She is celebrated for her compelling durational performances. Her practice moves freely between solo performances, dynamic group works and living installation. She explores contested sites and minority narratives, distilling these into urgent contemporary performances. These works stand at the forefront of some of the most exciting collaborative performances with marginalised communities. The Irish Times have said, ‘Coogan, whose work usually entails ritual, endurance and cultural iconography, is the leading practitioner of performance in the country’.

Mufutau Yusuf is currently based between Ireland and Brussels, where he works with Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus/Ultima Vez. Since 2020 Mufutau has performed with Liz Roche Company in Ireland and the US. Mufutau made his full-length NYC choreographic debut with Òwe at the Irish Arts Centre, New York in 2022. As Associate Dance Artist at Liz Roche Company 2022 – 24, Mufutau premiered his new work Impasse, at Dublin Dance Festival 2024 which went on to tour across Ireland and internationally supported by Supported by Solstice Arts Centre, Dance Cork Firkin Crane, Irish Arts Centre New York, Ultima Vez, Dublin Dance Festival, Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, Maison de la Danse, Lyon, Le Pôle européen de création, Centre National de la Danse. Mufutau will present his latest piece, Invocation as part of Chora, Luail’s inaugural performance; a triple bill of new works by choreographer Guy Nader and Maria Campos, Liz Roche and Mufutau Yusuf. Chora will open at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre as part of Dublin Dance Festival’s 21st Edition.

Mufutau was recently nominated as a new Aosdána member, elected at the General Assembly in September 2025.

Zoë is a Dublin-based dance artist, choreographer, and educator whose career spans performance and creation. She has performed with leading companies including English National Ballet, National Ballet of Ireland, Opera Ballet Flanders, and Company Eastman | Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, performing works by renowned choreographers such as William Forsythe, Pina Bausch, Akram Khan, Sharon Eyal, and Jan Martens.

Since 2014, she has developed a choreographic practice supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, and Dance Ireland, with work presented internationally. In 2024, her piece I’m Trying to Help was a finalist at the Hannover Choreographic Competition, winning a production prize for Theatre Chemnitz. In 2026, she will creatively assist Jan Martens at Opera Ballet Flanders.

Ryan O’Neill is from Belfast and has made a career at home and abroad working with Maiden Voyage Dance, Off the Rails, ponydance, Oona Doherty works, IMDT, CoisCéim, Liz Roche Company, Emma Martin/United Fall, Luke Murphy Attic Projects and Thisispopbaby. He worked full-time for 3 years with Punchdrunk on immersive shows Sleep No More in Shanghai and The Burnt City, London. Ryan is a qualified Ashtanga Yoga teacher and Garuda certified.

Katie Davenport is an award-winning set and costume designer. Winner of Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for Costume Design 2021 and 2022, she has created scenography for many major theatre, opera and dance companies in Ireland, including the Abbey, Gate, INO, Landmark, Liz Roche Company and United Fall. Katie was previously vice-chair of Irish Society of Stage & Screen Designers, Designer in Residence at the Gate Theatre, and represented Ireland in Beijing NCPA 2016 and at the Prague Quadrennial 2019 & 2023.

Jou-Hsin Chu is a Dublin-Based contemporary dance artist from Taiwan whose work traces the subtle spaces between cultures, bodies and life, attuned to the body’s movements and sensory perception. Her training journey spans renowned institutions in the Netherlands, Germany, and Taiwan.

Working across Europe and Asia, she has performed in collaborations with artists such as Lucinda Childs and Tristan Perich. In 2023-2024, she completed a residency in Japan and presented her independent work DEAR NEIGHBOR (COMMA), later featured in Dance Magazine Japan. In Taiwan, she has worked with Baotanz, Youth Ballet Ensemble Taiwan, and Da-Guan Dance Theater.

Chu is the founding member of Luail — Ireland’s National Dance Company. Her artistic practice reveals quiet depth and beauty in life’s smallest nuances through an honest, responsive body.

Clara is a Dance Artist from County Down. She began as a Festival Irish dancer, a style unique to the province of Ulster and then went on to train at LIPA, achieving a 1st class BA (Hons) in Dance. Recent choreographic work includes Silver Linings commissioned by Macmillan and Line of Life, an interactive projection and dance piece for Maiden Voyage Dance.

Performances include The Gate House choreographed by Michael McEvoy; Roots, choreographed by Eileen McClory as part of Belfast 2024 and The Belfast International Arts Festival; House! tour with Fidget Feet; and as part of a West End and national tour with Fairytale of New York. Clara recently founded Seen Dance Company, an energetic new dance company which tells Irish stories old and new.

Sean Lammer is an American dancer, creator, and educator from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 2019 he received his BFA from The Juilliard School. Upon his graduation, Sean worked as a freelancer with New York City based artists and companies including GALLIM, Helen Simoneau Danse, and MADBOOTS.

Most recently he was a full-time member of Richard Siegal | Ballet of Difference at Schauspiel Köln (2021-2024) and is a founding member of Luail – Ireland’s National Dance Company. In 2019, Sean co-founded BODYSONNET, a collective dedicated to creating collaborative works in unconventional spaces. As an educator he has taught workshops and repertory internationally across four continents.

Born in South London, Tom’s journey into dance began through his experience as a competitive fencer. He trained at Rambert School and later VERVE, developing an interest rooted in physically demanding and conceptually driven work, Tom has collaborated with a variety of critically acclaimed choreographers throughout Europe.

He is also passionate about facilitation, having led across pre-vocational, higher education institutions and professional settings. Prior to Luail, he performed with National Dance Company Wales and Jack Philp Dance.

He has performed and toured internationally, with notable highlights including East African Bolero, choreographed by the acclaimed Wesley Ruzibiza, and his appearance in Chora; Luail – Ireland’s National Dance Company’s inaugural performance, which featured new works by Guy Nader Maria Campos, Liz Roche, and Mufutau Yusuf. Since the 2024/2025 season, Hamza has been a company dancer with Luail, where he continues to explore the intersection of movement and sound as a means of connection and storytelling.

Rosie Stebbing is a contemporary dance artist from Ireland. She trained at ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (Netherlands), and joined Holstebro Dansekompagni (Denmark) as an apprentice dancer during the final year of her studies. Since graduating in 2021 she has returned to Ireland where she has worked as a performer with Luke Murphy/Attic Projects, CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Peter Power/Sparsile Collective, Emily Aoibheann and Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Theatre.

She has also presented her own choreographic work at Dublin Fringe Festival, What Next Festival and the Irish Youth Dance Festival, and has been supported by awards and residencies from the Arts Council of Ireland, Dance Ireland, Dance Limerick, Galway Dance, the Irish Aerial Creation Centre and Dublin City Arts Office.

Born in London, Meghan trained at Northern School of Contemporary Dance before joining VERVE21. She has continued to work internationally with Russell Maliphant Dance Company performing Silent Lines and Vortex. Her career has seen her perform with choreographers such as Balletboyz, Thick & Tight, Shelly Maxwell and Holly Blakey. This autumn, she is excited to join as a guest artist with Pina Bausch Tanztheater in Wuppertal, performing Rite of Spring. 

Meghan is influenced by her background in fine art, bringing a personal perspective to her performances.

Robyn is a dancer, choreographer and teacher from the Midlands. She trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance before joining VERVE and subsequently MoDem PRO with Compagnia Zappalà Danza, Sicily.

She has performed nationally and internationally with Irish companies and artists including Emma Martin/United Fall, Junk Ensemble, Alexandre Iseli, Philip Connaughton, and Laura Murphy Dance.

In 2023, she received the Next Generation Award. In 2024 she choreographed MOSH (dir. Rachel Ní Bhraonáin), which received Best Ensemble at Dublin Fringe Festival 2023, was presented at Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2024, and toured nationally in 2025. Prior to joining Luail Robyn premiered, Queen of the Meadows, at Live Collision International Festival 2025.

Zoë is a Dublin-based dance artist, choreographer, and educator whose career spans performance and creation. She has performed with leading companies including English National Ballet, National Ballet of Ireland, Opera Ballet Flanders, and Company Eastman | Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, performing works by renowned choreographers such as William Forsythe, Pina Bausch, Akram Khan, Sharon Eyal, and Jan Martens.

Since 2014, she has developed a choreographic practice supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, and Dance Ireland, with work presented internationally. In 2024, her piece I’m Trying to Help was a finalist at the Hannover Choreographic Competition, winning a production prize for Theatre Chemnitz. In 2026, she will creatively assist Jan Martens at Opera Ballet Flanders.

Fearghus Ó Conchúir is a choreographer and dance artist. Frequently collaborating with experts from across and beyond the arts, he makes film and live performances that create frameworks for audiences and artists to build communities together. His multi-platform work, The Casement Project, was one of the Arts Council’s National Projects for Ireland 2016, part of the Ireland 2016 International Programme and of the 14-18NOW WWI Centenary Art Commissions. He’s currently co-leading a dance programme with Micro Rainbow International that he initiated as part of The Casement Project to support LGBTQI refugees and asylum seekers. From 2018-2020, he was Artistic Director of National Dance Company Wales. His work for the Company toured across Wales, as well as being presented in Japan as part of Wales’ cultural programme for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. He was appointed to the Arts Council of Ireland in 2018 and was Deputy Chair from 2019 – 2023. He was Chair of the UK Dance Network 2020-2023, is curator of the Step Up Project for early-career dance professionals. In 2024, he collaborated with Isabella Oberländer to create and perform Tearmann Aiteach/ Queer Sanctuary. He is currently developing a new project, Dúiche, that links language, bodies and ecology.

www.fearghus.net

Olivier Award nominee Colin Dunne is a traditional Irish dance artist who works across dance, music, and theatre performance platforms in Ireland and Internationally. His critically acclaimed solo works Out of Time and CONCERT have been presented at prestigious venues and festivals including Baryshnikov Arts Centre NYC, Barbican London, and Biennale de la Danse Lyon.

Led by Artistic Director Tara Brandel, Croí Glan is an award winning contemporary dance company celebrating diverse bodies on stage, and a flagship company for EDI with a case study in the new AC EDI handbook. Creating 22 works since 2006, Croí Glan has toured nationally and internationally and is currently working on Change with 6 performers and climate scientists from UCC, looking at climate resilience.

Edwina hails from outside the village of Drumsna in Co. Leitrim. Coming from a family steeped in the traditions of music and dance, her style is greatly influenced by the style of local music she grew up with. She was awarded the Arts Council of Ireland Next Generation Bursary in 2017, the Gradam Comaoine TG4 for her outstanding contribution to culture in 2022 and the Markievicz Award by the Department of An Taoiseach in 2023.

Lucia has been performing and collaborating internationally since 2011. Trained in The Netherlands, she has worked with many companies and artists including Liz Roche Company, Philip Connaughton, Junk Ensemble, TRASH, Maria Nilsson Waller and Jessie Keenan Dance. She regularly guest tutors on the BA and MA contemporary dance courses at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at University of Limerick.

Nicky is a writer/director and documentary filmmaker, based in Belfast. Most recently he directed the four part TV series Second Chances on Virgin Media One. His short doc Becoming Cherrie was nominated for Best British Short at the Iris Prize, and screened at numerous international film festivals. In 2023 he was awarded BAFTA Connect membership.

Luke Murphy is a choreographer and director based in Cork and working internationally — Luke has created over thirteen works for his company Attic Projects, touring the work throughout Ireland, the US, UK and Germany. As a performer Luke worked with Punchdrunk from 2009-2022 on all major productions in the US, UK and China, with Ultima Vez from 2014-2018 and in projects with Liz Roche, Luca Silvestrini, Alexandra Waierstall, Ben Duke, Pavel Zustiak, Martha Clarke, Kate Weare and many others.

Tobi is an internationally acclaimed Nigerian/Irish B-boy (Breakin’/Breakdancer) and Hip-Hop Freestyle dancer, having trained at Broadway Dance Centre, West Bronx, New York and Breakbeat Dance Studios, Waterford. Tobi has been dancing for over 20 years and supports the foundations of this dynamic and influential dance form with his B-boy crew – RECESSION SQUAD NINJAS. He is the curator and director of the hugely popular TOP 8 STREET DANCE BATTLE.

Based in Enniskillen in Fermanagh, Dylan has worked as a professional dance artist for over 17 years. He created Dylan Quinn Dance Theatre in 2009 and has been presented at Dublin Fringe and Dublin Dance Festivals, Happy Days International Beckett Festival, Spring Loaded and undertaken British Council Support work in India and Hong Kong. Dylan holds an MA in Peace and Development Studies from the Universtad Di Cataollina, Spain.

In 2024, Luail commissioned and contributed to the research and development of work by dance artist Amir Sabra. This research led to the creation of Bridging.

Inspired by the Living Bridge, located at the Irish World Academy in Limerick. In collaboration with the MA Contemporary Dance Performance students at the Academy, choreographer Amir Sabra with composer Rossa Ó Snodaigh and members of Kíla.

Bridging premiered at the launch of Luail’s foundational partnership with the Irish World Academy of Music at Dance at University Limerick in 2024.

Nuala has over 15 years-experience as a creative producer in the cultural sector with expertise in producing participatory and professional dance projects. She has a particular interest in dance in public spaces, work for young audiences and socially engaged practice.

Nuala has previously worked within Culture and Arts at Queen’s University Belfast, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and Historic Royal Palaces at Hillsborough Castle. She has been the Company Manager at Maiden Voyage Dance since 2021 and is currently a Trustee for ASSITEJ UK.

Dr Jenny Roche is Associate Professor and Course Director of the MA in Contemporary Dance Performance at the University of Limerick. Her research areas include the creative practice of contemporary dancers, artistic research methods, dance pedagogy and technology.

She worked extensively as a dancer in Ireland and internationally and continues to collaborate in various creative arts research contexts. Recent performance projects with Liz Roche Company include Time Over Distance Over Time (2016) and Alternately Terrific and Gentle (2023). In 2019, she collaborated with Ruth Gibson, Bruno Martelli and Mel Mercier on Expanded Fields, a moving image installation, performance and virtual environment presented at Limerick City Gallery of Art.

Nicola is the founder and Artistic Director of Maiden Voyage, Northern Ireland’s contemporary dance commissioning company. A QUB law graduate Nicola worked on the early establishment Belfast Children’s Festival before returning to her first love of dance with an MA in Contemporary Dance at UL.

With Maiden Voyage she has commissioned, produced and toured over 35 dance works for stage or public space for audiences of all ages, championed development opportunities for NI based dance artists and initiated participatory programmes in education, health and community settings. She is also trained in Clinical Living Somatics and Amastu.

Edwina Guckian is an artist, dancer, community activist and cultural curator whose work is deeply rooted in the traditions, folklore and lived experience of rural Ireland. Raised in County Leitrim, she is internationally recognised for her distinctive contribution to Irish traditional dance, reviving and reimagining vernacular dance traditions for contemporary audiences while remaining firmly grounded in place and community.

Edwina’s contributions to Irish arts and culture have been recognised through a number of prestigious awards, including the Next Generation Award from the Arts Council of Ireland, the Markievicz Award, and the Gradam Comaoine awarded by TG4 in 2022, honouring her outstanding contribution to traditional dance and the preservation of Irish cultural heritage.

She is the author of Sparks on the Flagstones: A Treasury of Irish Folk Traditions and Calendar Customs, Director of Leitrim Dance Festival and Áirc Damhsa Culture Club, Dance Deputy with Luail – Ireland’s National Dance Company and is a board member of the Irish Traditonal Music Archive on Merrion Square, Dublin.

Her recent work includes The Devil’s in the Dancehall, an immersive dance theatre experience, inspired by the life and legacy of Jimmy Gralton, Ireland’s dancehall era and the 1935 Public Dance Halls Act. She is currently leading an ambitious community initiative to rebuild Jimmy Gralton’s Dance Hall on the site of the original hall near her home place in Leitrim, restoring not only a physical space but also the spirit of gathering, dancing and community activism that it once embodied.

Vivian Brodie Hayes is a dance artist and choreographer based in County Wexford. Originally from the United States, she has lived and worked in the South East of Ireland for over twenty years, developing a practice rooted in choreography, performance, participation and creating opportunities for dance within communities.

Her choreographic practice explores connection, memory, place and belonging, often bringing dance into intimate, community and non-traditional settings. Recent work includes The Session, a performance bringing together contemporary dance, live music and storytelling, which was selected to be performed as a part of Cultúr 2026, Ireland’s EU Presidency Culture Programme.

Vivian is the founder and Artistic Director of SpringMoves Dance Festival, Wexford’s dedicated dance festival, running annually for 8 years. Established in 2019, SpringMoves brings professional dance artists and companies to Wexford while creating opportunities for local audiences and communities to experience, participate in and connect through dance.

As Dance Deputy for the South East with Luail – Ireland’s National Dance Company, Vivian works to strengthen connections between artists, communities, venues and organisations across the region, developing opportunities for people to encounter and participate in dance, supporting the growth of a connected dance ecology in the South East.