ABOUT SIX DANCE COLLECTIVE
Six Dance Collective was founded by ballet dancer and choreographer Ruaidhrí Maguire. After dancing extensively in North America, Europe, UK, NI and Ireland, the impetus to create SDC came from the desire to expose audiences and artists in Northern Ireland to the richness and variety that ballet can bring to contemporary stories alongside presenting the stalwarts of the classical repertoire.
As the idea for Six Dance Collective formed, it included the commitment to create opportunities for artists across all forms to collaborate to inspire inspiration and growth. In addition to this, the collective is dedicated to expanding audiences and deepening understanding of dance. Through thought-provoking programmes, we want to provide the audiences with new access to the transformative power of dance.
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In August 2023, SDC presented their inaugural production, Belfast's first ballet White Doves.
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Mission
To forge new artistic collaborations across arts disciplines that use the rich classical dance vocabulary to address contemporary themes along with providing better access to existing repertoire.
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White Doves (2023). Leigh Alderson as the Male Dove.
RUAIDHRI MAGUIRE
Ruaidhri Maguire is a choreographer and classical ballet dancer from County Derry.
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His choreography has been performed on stages across Ireland, the UK, Poland and Japan. Recent performances include Beating Streets in City Hearts (Opera Baltycka, Poland), Gigue I (Osaka, Japan) and After/Before (Irish Modern Dance Theatre's Dancer From The Dance Festival) alongside collaborations with filmmaker Conan McIvor and composer Amelia Clarkson.
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Ruaidhri's choreographic practice has received support from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Galway Dance Project and Dance Ireland.
His works Default and Lost Youth were seen at the Youth Grand Prix Barcelona performed by students from Belfast's High Points Youth Ballet with one student being award a scholarship to the Nervi Ballet and Music Festival, Italy.
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ABOUT THE FOUNDER
As a dancer, Ruaidhri is currently the youngest male principal dancer at the Baltic Opera Ballet (Gdansk, Poland) where he has been part of the company since 2017. Prior, he danced for Ballet Victoria (BC, Canada) and Milwaukee Ballet II. ​
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Ruaidhri received his professional training at the Central School of Ballet in London.
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Ruaidhrí has taught company class for the Baltic Opera Ballet and is a regular guest teacher with Dance Ireland. Along with this, Ruaidhrí enjoys passing on his experiences as a professional to the next generation of dancers as a coach, leading masterclasses online and in-person across Northern Ireland, the ROI, and in the Gdansk area (Poland).
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To perform existing and create unique repertoire that is relevant to our times and contributes meaningfully to the future of ballet and dance as an adventurous theatrical form in Northern Ireland and beyond, making it accessible to all types of audiences. We are dedicated to promote and facilitate collaborations between artists born or residing in Northern Ireland, along with bringing international talent to NI. By collaborating across art forms, our goal is to bring a modern aesthetic and contemporary relevance to ballet, presenting existing repertoire through the present-day gaze, developing original works that respond to the environment, local and global issues, and communities where our work is created and shared.
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OUR VALUES
• Integrity & Authenticity
• Creativity & Innovation
• Leadership & Team work
• Quality & Relevance
• Inclusion & Diversity
SDC values the positive impact that diversity and inclusion have on our work, activities, and organisational thinking (regardless of culture, class, gender, background, age, training, style, sexual orientation, preferred gender pronouns, colour of skin, physical or mental disability, parental responsibilities, religion, or history) and we proactively seek to create an inclusive environment for all.