SUMMER DANCE LAB

Born in Portadown, Leigh trained at The Royal Ballet School, performing in Rudi van Dantzig's Four Last Songs in Toronto and Stuttgart before graduating in 2006. He began his career with Scottish Ballet dancing works by Ashley Page, Forsythe and Trisha Brown and Pastor and works by Richard Wherlock with New English Contemporary Ballet, later joining Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada and guesting with Cork City Ballet. Later, with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Leigh performed in works by Stijn Celis, Stephan Thoss, The Snake in Didy Veldman's Petit Prince, Jiří Kylián's [Kaguyahime] and The Prince in Mats Ek's Sleeping Beauty. Later touring With Matthew Bourne's New Adventures in the new Swan Lake, Leigh left to Join The Royal Ballet Fehervar dancing works by Ekman and Lucas Timulak before joining his current position as Soloist in Ballett Theatre Nordhausen in Germany.

​​

Awards include Royal Ballet School Achievement Award (2005 & 2006), Lynne Seymour Award for Most Expressive Dancer (2004), The NJL Choreographic Development Award (2005) and The Ulster Tatler Arts Personality of the Year Award (2009 & 2010).

​

Leigh performed with SDC as the title role in White Doves (2023).

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. performing with Encore Dance Company and the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain.

 

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 is also a STOTT Pilates and Progressing Ballet Technique certified instructor.

 

SDC are delighted to welcome Niamh to Belfast. She is so delighted to be teaching at the Summer Dance Lab!

Ruaidhrí is an Irish choreographer, ballet dancer and Artistic Director of Six Dance Collective. Currently he works as a dancer with Ballet Ireland, prior working as a principal dancer with the Baltic Opera Ballet, Gdansk, Poland, performing leads in Giselle, The Nutcracker, Cinderella and Don Quixote. He is a graduate from Central School of Ballet, London, and has also danced Milwaukee Ballet II, USA and with Ballet Victoria, BC, Canada.

 

As a choreographer he premiered new works across the UK, Ireland, Canada, Poland and Japan. Recent works include; ‘The Doppler Effect’ with The Belfast Ensemble, ‘‘The Five Seasons’ at Ballet Victoria. Canada and ‘Beating Streets in City Hearts’ at the Baltic Opera in Gdansk. He has been a resident artist with Q Dance, Canada, Dance Ireland and Galway Dance Project.

 

Ruaidhrí founded Six Dance Collective in 2023 to further develop ballet as an adventurous artform across the island of Ireland, through collaboration and creating opportunities for the next generation of dancers. He choreographed SDC’s brand new two-act ballet ‘White Doves’ which took place at The MAC, Belfast Aug 2023.

Sarah is an Irish dance artist currently based in Belfast and Berlin. She graduated from The Institute of the Arts Barcelona in 2023 with a First Class BA(Hons)Dance. During her studies she worked with choreographers such as Jason Mabana, Léa Tirabasso, Guy Nader │ Maria Campos, Clémentine Télesfort and Lisard Tranis. Sarah continued her training at DART Studios Professional Training Intensive where she recently performed in the premier of “After a while in the Exile” by Nossetssik Dance Company.

 

Last summer Sarah spent time at Shawbrook Dance Company Space with Róisín Whelan Dance. In 2022 she worked with Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble and Maiden Voyage Dance for a duet choreographed by Michael McEvoy. In 2022 Sarah also worked with Maiden Voyage Dance through their creative encounters initiative and during that summer she took part in the Akram Khan Summer Intensive in Belfast. Sarah has taught contemporary dance in Berlin and in Northern Ireland. Through her creative practice Sarah experiments with many different styles of dance. In particular she enjoys exploring the urban styles and how these can be incorporated into the “groove” of her contemporary practice. As an artist Sarah is interested in exploring authentic and expressive movement.​​

​

Sarah recently shared new choreography as a part of SDC's Dance in Motion programme (2024).

Clara is a County Down based Dance Artist who trained at LIPA, achieving a 1 st  class BA (Hons) Dance. She has worked extensively throughout the UK and Ireland since graduating. Recent work includes ‘Line of Life’ an interactive projection and dance piece commissioned by Maiden Voyage Dance, ‘Seen Not Heard’ a collaboration alongside Cameron Tharma and ‘The Children of Lir’, an Irish fusion piece in collaboration with Denise Catney. Clara has also performed extensively including the ‘House!’ tour with Fidget Feet, a national tour with ‘Fairytale of New York’, and as an ensemble member in

Northern Ireland Opera’s ‘La Traviata’.

 

Most recently, Clara founded Seen Dance Company, a new energetic dance company whose interests include tell Irish stories, old and new.

​

SDC are pleased to welcome Clara back after her inpsiring contemporary workshop earlier this year.

​