Catherine Donnelly is an independent dance artist working with a diverse range of organisations, age groups and abilities.  Based in the West of Ireland, Catherine is interested in facilitating opportunities for people, especially those new to dance, to explore movement and dance, engage with the art form and in a creative process, using the body as medium.

In 2007 she founded The Elderberries weekly creative movement and dance workshops for over 55s, based in Roscommon Arts Centre and was Dancer in Residence for Bealtaine 2018 with Mayo Arts Office.

She produced two short dance works on film during her Scaffolding Dance residency in 2018 in Irish Manufacturing Research, Mullingar, supported by Westmeath County Council and Dance Ireland.

During her 2008 residency in Bank of Ireland, Roscommon (a Roscommon Arts Office Art@Work initiative) she produced a short dance work on film entitled ‘Dance Works and Money Matters’ which was screened to the public in branch during opening hours.

She recently completed working on her first Commission, ‘Navigating a Future’, awarded by Mayo County Council and is currently a Dancer in Residence with Ballina Arts Centre, part of their Arts Council Dance Artist Residency Scheme.

Kate’s practice is based in the Northwest of Ireland. She has a background in dance and visual art with a BA(Hons) from the Slade School of Art and an MA(Distinction) in Creative Practice for Professional Dance Practitioners, from Independent Dance London and Trinity Laban, London.

In 2016 she founded Undercurrent, a company that explores issues of mobility and inclusivity in the arts, creating innovative performances for gallery and theatre with movement practitioners from diverse backgrounds. With long-term international and Ireland-based collaborators, Undercurrent creates site-specific and theatre performances. Projects include Under the Surface, Winter Ground (performed double bill with IMDT), and Magnetise (shortlisted for LAMA awards) leading to intergenerational performance Unearth, which toured in 2022. Projects are widely supported by Arts Council Ireland, local funding bodies, and festivals.

Current research includes Landing Places which explores potential convergences between geographical displacement and restricted bodily mobility and is a collaboration with an acrobat, a dancer who uses a wheelchair, a dancer with Ethiopian cultural dance background, and a Nigerian dancer who is an asylum seeker.

Other areas of research include the use of online platforms and 360 camera technology with a focus on implications for performers with restricted mobility and embodied approaches to movement and image creation within improvised duet and portrait forms.

Oran Leong

A multidisciplinary dance artist in the genres of traditional Irish, contemporary and aerial dance, Oran creates original works that cross over fields of theatre, abstract and spectacle performance.  Oran’s movement journey began at the innocent age of 6 when he mistook an Irish dance class for breakdance. Nevertheless he returned and competed for 18 years, winning three World Championship titles amongst numerous other regional and national championships. He is also a qualified teacher (TCRG). 

An alumnus of Dublin Youth Dance Company and Step Up Dance Project, he holds an MA in Contemporary Dance Performance from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. During that time he met Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Theatre, which has been crucial to his aerial practice. Oran proudly acknowledges his movement as homegrown – being one of the few Irish-born dancers to have never studied abroad.

Working for a number of Irish and international companies in his variety of dance styles, Oran has also been Assistant Artistic Director of Laois Youth Dance Ensemble and was the backstage presenter for TG4’s dance show ‘An Ríl Deal’. He has created his own solo dance works, which have been presented at multiple Irish festivals and events, Lisbon Dance Platform and Project Dance Paris.

Oran has successfully received Arts Council Ireland awards in the Traditional Arts, Dance and Circus disciplines to develop his multifaceted practice, and offers his accumulated knowledge to other dancers and aerialists through mentorship. In 2020, he received Dance Ireland’s HATCH Award under the mentorship of Fearghus Ó Conchúir. Currently, Oran is Fidget Feet’s Associate Artist and Dance Artist-In-Residence at Ballina Arts Centre.

Mintesinot Wolde is a professional contemporary dance artist who graduated with an MA from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick.  

Mintesinot’s notable achievements include working with the renowned Japanese choreographer and director of ALB, Akiko Kitamura, as a dancer from 2020 to 2023 for the dance production ‘Echoes of Calling.’ The production was presented at The Mick Lally Theatre in Galway City, Ireland, as well as at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre and Architanz Studio in Tokyo, Japan.

Throughout his career, he has collaborated with choreographers like Akiko Kitamura, Choidi Dance Company, John Scott, Kate Wilson, Lucy Dowson to mention a few.  Mintesinot’s dance practice encompasses improvisation, contemporary dance techniques, and various choreographic styles that explore the space, dance movement, rhythms, dance compositions that tell stories, or abstract dance choreographies that do not have specific stories. His production “See You in the Green” was presented at Roscommon Arts Centre and the Dancer of the Dance Festival.

He is currently working on a new contemporary dance piece from a previously awarded residency at Roscommon Arts Centre.

Additionally, he has collaborated with various artists and choreographed dance pieces for “At the Abbey” and “At the Castle” and was commissioned to create a dance piece “Sway” for the Boyles Arts Festival In 2022.

In 2018, Mintesinot participated in the Step Up Dance Project. Furthermore, in 2013, he received professional training in Traditional and African Contemporary dance from Jant-Bi Ecole des Sables African Dance School in Senegal. Prior to that, he worked at Mekuria Theatre Studio and Entertainment Company in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as an artistic director, dancer, and dance teacher under Abate Mekuria’s guidance from 2004 to 2008.