Introducing the choreographer, composer and visual artist creating the new dance work to be performed at Belfast's Lyric Theatre from 20-22 February 2025.

We’re proud to introduce the team behind The View from Mars, SDC’s brand-new production. This group of artists will be familiar to our audiences—they are the same creative minds who brought White Doves to life at The MAC in 2023.
Ruaidhrí Maguire - Choreographer
Born and raised in Mid Ulster, SDC Artistic Director Ruaidhrí Maguire is a choreographer and ballet dancer.
Ruaidhrí’s choreography has been performed across the UK, Ireland, Canada, Poland and Japan. His practice explores the relationships between the interpersonal, the world around us and the corporeal. He is a Theatre and Dance NI 2024 INVEST Artist and has been a resident artist with Dance Ireland, Galway Dance Project and the inaugural ChoreoLab Resident Artist with Q Dance, Canada. Recent works include; ‘The Five Seasons’ at Ballet Victoria (Canada), ‘Beating Streets in City Hearts’ at the Baltic Opera Ballet (Poland), ‘After/Before’ at Dublin’s Dancer From the Dance Festival and Belfast International Ballet Festival and Conan McIvor’s ‘The Estate’, alongside ballet ‘White Doves’ and film ‘Corners’ for Six Dance Collective.
Ruaidhrí’s career as a dancer has taken him across North America and Europe. He trained at the Central School of Ballet and joined Milwaukee Ballet II (USA) in 2015. The following year, he moved to Ballet Victoria (Canada), before joining the Baltic Opera Ballet (Poland) in 2017. In 2019, he became the company’s youngest male principal dancer, performing a range of principal roles in the company’s vast classical and contemporary repertoire. In 2024, Ruaidhrí returned to Ireland to join Ballet Ireland, performing in their ‘Bold Moves’ and ‘Nutcracker Sweeties’ programmes.
Throughout his career he has worked and performed the celebrated choreography of artists such as Johan Inger, François Mauduit, Michael Pink, Philippe Portugal, Peter Quanz, Morgann Runacre-Temple, Gray Veredon, Mauricio Wainrot, Emil Wesołowski and Ewa Wycichowska.
Amelia Clarkson - Composer
Amelia is a composer from County Down whose music spans both the stage and concert hall.
Amelia’s work juxtaposes folk influences with contemporary timbres, exploring modern issues through the lens of nature, mythology, and literature.
Her recent concert music includes pieces for Ireland’s National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble, the Central Band of the Royal Air Force and Opera Holland Park. Dance is a central focus of Amelia’s creative practice. Recent highlights include ‘Ephemeral’ (2024) for the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company’s National Tour, described as having “inherent elusiveness… beautifully captured” (Het Parool), and Six Dance Collective’s White Doves (The MAC, 2023) and dance film Corners (2023), both created as Composer in Residence.
Supported as the 2022 Mendelssohn Scholar, Amelia is a current PhD candidate at the Royal Northern College of Music. Supervised by Laura Bowler and Gary Carpenter, her research is focussed on composing new music for dance.
Amelia’s work has received support from the PRS, Vaughan Williams and Hinrichsen Foundations and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Amelia was awarded the 2021 National Concert Hall and Sounding the Feminists Emerging/Mid-Career Commissioning Prize and, in 2024, became a Music Patron Composer as part of Sound and Music’s initiative to reimagine music patronage for the 21st century.
Conan McIvor - Visual Artist
Conan McIvor is a Director and Undisciplinary Artist who tells stories across and in-between Cinema, Theatre and Visual Art. He creates theatre productions, fiction, documentary and experimental films, video installations, immersive environments and projection design for live performance. His work has been exhibited in galleries, festivals, national theatres, cinemas, broadcast on national television and held in the Arts Council of Northern Ireland collection.
Conan studied Interactive Multimedia Design at University of Ulster before receiving an MA in Film and Visual Studies from Queen’s University Belfast during which he was awarded NI Screen’s Bill Miskelly Award. Most recently, Conan received a certificate in Storytelling for the Metaverse from the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology.
His documentary “Across and In-Between” (2021), made in collaboration with the renowned socially engaged artist Suzanne Lacy, premiered at Kunstsammlung, Dusseldorf, and screened more recently at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast before travelling to The Whitworth Gallery, Manchester. The film explores the profound impact of the land border in Ireland on the lives of the people who call the area ‘home’. His Lyric Live-to-Digital game experience “The Estate” was recently exhibited at Pallas Projects Dublin and draws on elements of visual installation, performance, social media and pop culture in exploring the ideas and values surrounding young men growing up during the pandemic period, specifically notions of masculinity, body image, emotional relationships, and attitudes to sexuality and gender.
Recent screenings include the Dance Film 'BIND' at the Belfast International Arts Festival and Irish Focus at the Irish Film Institute Dublin.
The View from Mars runs from 20-22 February 2024 in the Naughton Studio at The Lyric Theatre, Belfast. Tickets from £15 are available now.
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