For our final episode of Season 1, we’re joined by Jeffrey Gormly, a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans theatre, dance, choreography, and the social sphere, as both an advocate and practitioner of creative process. As a signature artist, Jeffrey has written numerous plays, essays, and publications, while his collaborative projects have connected him with theatre and dance artists, social creative practitioners, and community and mental health organisations. His performance work has featured at IMMA, Under the Radar NYC, Moderna Museet Stockholm, Athens Festival, Hayward Gallery London, Siamsa Tíre, Kilkenny Arts Festival, and many more. His writings on dance and choreography are studied on university curricula worldwide, and he has contributed to creative policy development at both national and European levels. A passionate advocate for creative participation, Jeffrey champions creative citizenship as a practice and campaigns for basic income for all, to ensure equal and democratic access to creativity. He has been commissioned by The Abbey Theatre, CREATE, Dance Ireland, Daghdha Dance Co, and Clonmel Junction, with work funded by the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, the Research Council of Ireland, ESB Funding for Generations, and Creative Ireland. His awards include the Dublin Corporation Drama Award, Google Adopt-a-Startup, and Bank of Ireland Startup of the Year (Shortlisted), as well as recognition from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. He is currently Artistic Researcher at the Laboratory for Social Choreography, Duke University. Join us as we wrap up Season 1 in conversation with Jeffrey , exploring art, movement, and the creative processes that connect us all.

On this week's episode we chat to Heather Hennessy who is an exciting up-and-coming theatre maker based in Dublin (and occasionally Monaghan!). A recent graduate of Coláiste Dhúlaigh, Heather has already built an impressive portfolio, with credits including Bullied, Madeira, and Dublin Touring Theatre’s upcoming productions Sally’s Return and Tropical Fish in the Tolka.

This week we chat with filmmaker and animator Steve Woods about his new book on the history of Irish animation and the impact animation has had on Irish television. Steve also shares insights into his work on dance films, including collaborations with choreographers like John Scott of the Irish Modern Dance Theatre.

With a career in film since 1988, Steve’s work spans animation, documentaries, experimental films, and dance for camera. He co-founded the Galway Film Fleadh, has programmed Irish animation at festivals worldwide, and teaches at the National Film School, IADT.

His award-winning films include Ireland 1848, The Polish Language, ’Twas Terrible Hardwork, and After You. In 2023, Steve received the Jimmy Murakami Award at the Dingle Animation Festival, and the Galway Film Fleadh held a retrospective of his dance films.

Tune in for a fascinating conversation about creativity, collaboration, and the evolution of Irish animation and dance on screen.

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On this week's episode we chat to Marie Riley, who is a Yorkshire-born movement director and dancer who works in theatre. Having graduated with a Drama degree from the University of East Anglia, she combined acting with her movement and dance heritage to fuel her practice. She is fascinated in how movement work impacts character development and physical storytelling. The MA Movement: Directing and Teaching course at Central has been a crucial opportunity for Marie to investigate her movement heritage and gain experience working in the process of actor movement training. Currently, her research seeks to investigate deep mechanisms for inclusive and accessible movement training practice.

On this week's episode we chat to Chen Ching. Who is an actor, dancer, and movement director from Taiwan, currently based in London. With a background in acting and over 15 years of professional dance training including Martial Arts, Contemporary Dance, and Chinese Dance-working across theatre and film. Recent credits include The Fishbowl Girl (Golden Horse-nominated, Clermont-Ferrand 2025)
and The Trio Hall (Berlinale Forum 2025).

In this episode, we sit down with Ingrid Nachstern, Artistic Director of Night Star Dance Company, to go behind the scenes of her new award-winning film PINS IN HER EYES (2025).

We chat about the importance of the Income for the Arts scheme, her creative process, and the journey that brought her from translator and classical ballet teacher to internationally acclaimed choreographer, filmmaker, and performer.

Ingrid has created 15 works and four films (Table Manners/Stopping at Red Lights, Freedom—to go!, Shoe Horn/Office, and Pins in Her Eyes), which have been screened in New York, Los Angeles, London, and beyond—earning multiple international awards.

As Director, Screenwriter, Choreographer, and Performer, Ingrid’s work bridges dance, film, and performance art. Her career highlights include performing at DTW (solo work), MoMA New York (in Steve Paxton’s work), the Lincoln Center (with Buglisi Dance), as well as projects in Barcelona (BIDE), Buenos Aires (BAIDE), and more.

She has also served on the Experimental Jury for the Brooklyn Film Festival (2020–2023) and for Ethnografilm Paris (2020–2024). Splitting her time between London and Dublin, she now plans to spend more time in Paris—while still taking daily ballet class.

Tune in for a fascinating conversation with one of the most dynamic voices in contemporary dance and film.

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On this week's episode we chat to Al Bellamy. Al Bellamy first became interested in challenging traditional direction methods with her debut production, Anne (Samuel Beckett Theatre, 2019) where she self-directed her foray into ethics and intimacy onstage. She spent some years engaging as Creative Producer and Production Manager for works such as DUBH (Dublin Theatre Festival, 2021), The Tolu & Feli Show (YouTube & Spotify, 2021), Tough Meat (YouTube, 2022). She first took the leap into Disability-Inclusive practice through Jody O’Neill’s What I (Don’t) Know About Autism (The Peacock Stage, The Abbey Theatre, 2021) as the captions operator, working closely with the cast and production team to ensure the production was fully captions-accessible. She followed this up as Production Manager on Aine O’Hara’s The Rest Rooms (Dublin Fringe Festival, 2022). She has also explored film mediums for her work, completing the X-Pollinator Elevator programme in 2021 with an honourable mention for her pitch, and was awarded the Project Arts Centre’s Short Cuts Award to produce and direct The Merrow in 2022. Al Bellamy’s directing credits include: The Amanda (Saoirse) Show (The DLR LexIcon Theatre, 2022) and Yellow written and performed by Jody O’Neill (Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas, 2022) and later performed by Eleanor Walsh (Draíocht Arts Centre in Blanchardstown, Granary Theatre in Cork, Neuroconvergence in Dublin, National Festival of Youth Theatres in Kilkenny, Bounce Disability Arts Festival in Belfast) from November 2022 to September 2024. She was Director and Co-Lead Artist with Jody O'Neill for Cork Midsummer & SUISHA Inclusive Arts Organisations' Be Part project in Cork Midsummer 2023, workshopping and creating a new script around the themes of disability justice with a group of disabled artists in Cork. She continued as Director of this production, Home Sweet Home, which premiered in the Granary Theatre Cork in Cork Midsummer Festival 2024. In 2022, Al Bellamy was funded by the Arts Council Agility Award for Mythics, creating a space for neurodiverse people to explore and discuss reworkings of Irish Folklore and Mythology. In 2023, she received the Arts Council Theatre Bursary to develop a holistic methodology for disability-inclusive productions. In 2024, she received an Arts Council Arts Participation Project Award for her project Home Sweet Home in Cork Midsummer Festival 2024. She also gave a Masterclass in Disability Inclusive Theatre to final year and MA Directing students in the Eduard Smilgis Theatre, Riga, Latvia, and created and led Embedding Access: A Workshop for Disability Inclusion in association with Draíocht Arts Centre for Dublin Fringe Festival 2024 and Cork School of Music. Recently, she has completed The Next Stage with Performing Arts Forum and Dublin Theatre Festival 2024.

On this week’s episode, we chat with Emma Browne – a ballet dancer, teacher, and the Founder and Principal of EmBrace Dance Academy.

Emma shares what it was like to move from Ireland to Russia to pursue ballet training after just two years of dancing, and the challenges and lessons that came with that experience. We also discuss the importance of creating a nurturing and supportive environment for students, and how that can shape their journey in dance.Trained in Dublin, St. Petersburg, and Brussels, Emma has toured with Swan Lake, performed on public stages and at private events, and even appeared on RTÉ television.

After facing ill health, she returned to Ireland where she qualified as a registered teacher with the Association of Russian Ballet & Theatre Arts.

Now, as a certified Progressing Ballet Technique instructor and Barre Fitness instructor, Emma is passionate about teaching through kindness, empathy, and encouragement — values that lie at the heart of her academy.

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