The Monthly talks to Michael McEvoy from Northern Attitudes Dance Company – Part 3 – You beg, borrow, and do whatever it takes to make work happen

So it is a difficult terrain to work in?

When I was part of the Reveal programme for Prime Cut, I received £10,000 to make my work, The Gate House. I decided that for two years that was all I was going to do. Anything else that came my way I was going to say no to. Whether it was a few thousand pounds here or a residency there, everything was about making The Gate House.

Yes it was a small budget, it was made for £25,000, and I wanted to make a work with 7 dancers, 25 Irish dancers, so I had to make an investment for 2 years and I needed to ask other people to invest in the work. I needed the Belfast International Arts Festival to give me two years to produce something I could perform at the festival and that they would programme that work when I needed them to programme it.

Any company I had ever worked for I asked them for help. I needed a week’s space in The MAC to rehearse the work and pull it all together at the end. I got the dance floor from Maiden Voyage, the lights from Bruiser Theatre Company and everyone understands because it’s a community here. You can’t ask people at the last minute because they will be in the middle of producing their next work. You need to give people time to be able to offer some investment in what you are doing.

You need investment which is much more about people supporting you than it is about money, and I have managed to get that support.

Where to now?

The company is taking another two years to make a new work, For the Glory, which will be performed at the Belfast International Arts Festival in 2026. We will be looking to raise money to produce that work.

I will be Artist in Residence at the Belfast International Arts Festival 2025, and I will also be working on a new work, The Sorrow is Upon Me, in Egypt. I do a lot of work with the British Council. I did a dance resilience community programme in Columbia in South America last year called, Dance in Peace. On the back of that and The Gate House being part of the Culture Ireland spotlight of the Belfast International Festival last year, I am going to be part of a cultural exchange. A three year programme between Egypt, Palestine and Northern Ireland. I go to Egypt, an Egyptian choreographer goes to Palestine, and a Palestinian choreographer comes here to the Belfast International Arts Festival.

We also intend to look at navigating touring internationally, taking The Gate House to different arts and dance festivals around the world. And we are hoping to pilot a new programme, Attitudes Youth Dance Company, and I will also be touring with Oona Doherty’s show as well.

It looks like you will be very busy?

I am trying to look at going from somebody who goes from month to month contracts to someone who is looking at a more professional long term approach to my work. I need two years to do a new work, three years to work with the dancers in Egypt and a choreographer in Palestine so that when everything comes back to Belfast we have taken the time to make everything as good as it can be.