Do you create your own work?
I have produced work with the dancers, Rosie Mullin and Michael McEvoy as part of POKE theatre, a lockdown special, before Covid I produced my own dance show called “Hoodies”. I performed that show locally, in the Accidental Theatre and at The Strand. I also did a reimagining of that show in Newry when we received a commission from Associate Dance.
I’ve been part of collectives, so I was a rolling cast member of Yuck Circus, and that was a substantial part of my touring career, being with them. I’m part of a circus collective called Currach Circus that’s a mix of contemporary dance and acrobatics and physical theatre.
You are a choreographer and a dance teacher?
I am a choreographer and I’ve done a multitude of things and its hard to ever dance without ever having to come up a few counts of 8. Most dancers have to be choreographers. I attend regular dance classes at The Vault Artist Studios, a pro class that was set up by Mira Rendilheiro and now is being kept alive by the efforts of Siobhan Parker and myself.
We will be taking a break for November and December and returning again in January. I can’t say I teach regularly. I cover people a lot and will do workshops on request. I find I’m not great at consistency and i get very obsessed with it and it takes up too much brain space so I prefer to be a cover girl.
In terms of circus, it has always been in the background. My sister had a child with a circus man so it was always there and that is probably influenced going to Australia and as a result I was asked to be part of Yuck Circus. It’s an all-female satirical circus show, and I toured with them for two years.
Where to now?
Currach Circus, we have produced a new show called “Ship|Shape” which is based on the people and history of Sailortown in Belfast. That has been commissioned by Daisy Chain for The Maritime Festival.
I also have a show called “ShitShow Shambles” which is a comedy game show. Effectively a board game where members of the audience roll a dice and they play the games on the board I made. There different tasks depending on the square that they land on, and the audience plays till someone wins. We did that on Culture Night and it went well and that is another example of being a Jack-of-all-Trades.
Beyond those projects, I get random calls to work on Music Videos, TV shows and things like that I will be working in Cabaret Supperclub in the Christmas Variety show which I do every year, and I am hoping to produce a new solo show as well down the line. So I have plenty of projects and plenty of ideas to be going on with. I always have lost of ideas and it just about finding the time and the resources to turn the ideas into a reality.
If you would like to see more of Emily McDonagh’s work see the links below
