How did you discover dance?
I was put into dance by accident when I was three years old. My older sister wanted to go to Irish dancing and so my mum put her in and took me along and I was allowed to join in. I can remember the first time I stood and pointed my toe, which is where you start in terms of learning technique, and I could hardly keep my balance, but I know that was the moment I fell in love with dance.
I had an incredible teacher called Denise Catney, at the Aisling School of Dance in Holywood. I am still working with Denise, we choreograph together, and the Festival Irish Dance is a still a big part of who I am as a person and as a dancer.
That period, when I was very young, was where the little seeds were sown for me connecting me to dance and it has been that way ever since.
Do you get support given you had shown an interest at such a young age?
My parents, my whole family, have always supported me and I grew up being taken to see a lot of dance, Maiden Voyage for example or touring companies which came here to perform. My dance teachers, especially Denise, were always incredibly supportive but not just in terms of technicality and technique but artistry as well. They wanted dancers to express themselves and that meant encouraging dancers to create their own choreography, create their own steps. That was vital.
With regards school, my school wasn’t particularly interested in the arts, much more interested in grades, and academic work. The support system I had outside of school lead me to go to Liverpool and LIPA (Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts which was set up by Sir Paul McCartney) and I studied a degree course, I trained in various forms of dance, musical theatre, things like that. You could also train in music and stage management.
The orientation was to train performers and those who make performance possible, so all the performances were run completely by students. Costumes, lighting design, all of the elements which go to making a performance happen, you would learn at LIPA.
Through your training in Holywood and in Liverpool, are you conscious of developing your craft?
Absolutely. I can say in Irish dancing there is a specific standard to be met there and you are always aiming to meet the technical requirement of that form.
Irish dancing was the only form of dancing I was working in for quite a long period of my life until I was 16 or 17. I started doing ballet and a little bit of contemporary dance and then I went to LIPA where I learned many different styles of dance.
How did you find learning other forms of dance after working in Irish dancing for so long?
It was hard, a very hard transition. I was always dancing as a child, and I would watch a lot of dance, ballet, jazz ballet, contemporary dance, things like that, so I did have an idea of what I needed to do, I sort of knew where you had to position your body, but it was still very difficult.
I should say, very few people start ballet at 16, it is way too late to have a career in that form, nevertheless I worked at all the different styles and forms. I was pretty lucky that my body and my mind picked things up quite quickly.
Did you have anyone you were influenced by?
I think when I was very young I looked up to all the older dancers, and when I watched Maiden Voyage, Ryan O’Neill and Vasiliki Stasinaki were very influential, they often did duets together and I always thought they looked beautiful when they danced together.
I looked up to other dancers who were dancing in companies, people who came out of Sadler’s Wells, Akram Khan and Matthew Bourne, people like that. There were also famous ballet dancers, Sarah Lamb and Marianela Núñez, who I thought were incredible as well,
But if I stick to the local dancers it has to be Ryan O’Neil and Vasiliki Stasinaki and when I actually started working with them I thought they were like superstars and I was so privileged to be sharing a stage with them.
If you want to follow the work of Clara Kerr see the links below
