PHYSICAL PREPARATION

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Emmet Louis is an internationally respected coach specialising in mobility, hand balancing, and strength conditioning for circus artists and movement practitioners. He initially trained at Circomedia, Bristol and the National Centre for Circus Arts, London, before working as a professional performer on the London corporate circuit. After an injury brought his performance career to a close, Emmet transitioned fully into coaching and has dedicated the last 13 years to teaching and developing advanced training methodologies. He is the creator of the Modern Methods of Mobility system and co-creator of the Handstand Factory, both of which have become influential resources for circus professionals. Emmet has coached artists internationally, collaborating with circus schools, professional companies, and independent performers. His teaching combines deep technical expertise with a creative, adaptable approach, supporting artists in achieving both longevity and excellence in their careers.

PARTNER ACROBATICS

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Henrik Gard and Ali Stanger are the duo behind Cikada Circus, an acrobatic performance company based in Ireland. They focus their practice on Hand to hand and blending acrobatics with abstract or explicit narratives. They have created and toured six previous shows, receiving support from Arts Council Ireland and various arts centres and organisations around Ireland. Their debut production, Cikada (2018), toured across Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, winning awards and nominations along the way. Their most recent production in 2025, Symbiont, is a unique experience presented within the company’s 10-meter geodesic dome, merging performance with a living exhibition for audiences to explore. The same year, they also premiered A Stroll on Our Shoulders, a promenade, site-adaptive performance that uses the city scape and its people as its canvas, and transforms and evolves with each location it visits.

They co-founded ensemble-acrobatic theatre company Siolta Circus, touring both nationally and internationally with two shows.

PEDAGOGY MENTOR

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Isabela is a brazilian/irish circus performer and educator. She has been doing circus for the past 20 years, where 13 of those professionally and last 8 years as full-time educator. She graduated at the National Circus School of Brazil, currently finishing her BA in Physical Education and is currently Head Trainer at Galway Community Circus.

She has completed the European Circus Transformation Course (CTF) and has delivered as a trainer three editions of the Module D in Galway for both European and Irish editions. She has also completed the training for trainers of the A.S.K Training (Assistant Training Sharing Knowledge) and has delivered training for trainers in Circus Factory, Dublin Circus Project and Galway Community Circus. She has also led and coordinated many National and International Youth Exchanges, have been delivering workshops for the University of Galway as part of a Residency Programme and have trained and worked with international youth and social circus trainers such as Pete Duncan, Steven Desanghere, Isabel Van Maele, Tommaso Negri, Ilaria Bessoni, Rika Taeymans, Dean Kriellaars, Lynn Carroll and more.

Her main disciplines include Handstand, Washington Trapeze and Contact Juggling.

THEATRE | CLOWN

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Angelica Santander is a clown, director and early years practitioner, her work combines theatrical, circus and clowning elements. She strives to create original work that exposes and questions the essence of our humanity, its ridiculousness, purpose , fears and desires. 

She is currently touring Juanita’s Big Problem, a 50 minute solo clown show that deals with plastic pollution and Desert Bloom , an early years show inspired on the magic of nature. 

Angelica is interested in exploring themes that are relevant to our times such as climate change , equality, migration-immigration and technology. To create work that is challenging and inspiring for children and adults alike. 

Angelica has presented her work in diverse festivals around Ireland such as Roola Boola Children’s 

Arts Festival 2024, Hullabaloo Children’s Festival 2023-24, Grasshoppers Festival, Balbriggan 2022-23-24, 

Scene and Heard Festival, Dublin 2022/23/25, Daring Dames Festival, Achill 22/23/24, Pagliacce Festival, 

Turin, Hullabaloo Children’s Festival 2023 among others. 

In parallel she works as a physical theatre and clown mentor for professional performers. Over the years she has mentored several circus artists such as, Conjunto Pepelin, Symmetry Circus, Polina Shapira, Claire Higgins,Erika Brocca, among others. 

Her latest achievements include being part of the Cairde festival Unveiled Programme for new work with TOO LATE, her latest solo clown show. Directing the Galway Community Circus Young Ensemble Performance COSMOS, 2025. She was awarded the Manifesto Residency with the circus quartet LAS CUATRO, 2025. The Supported Residency from Twisted Lane Productions ,2024. Being part of the Dcp’s Boost programme, as theatre and clown tutor and assistant director for their show SCLIMPINI(2023). Being awarded the Catalyst Residency with the clown duo Skin and Blisters,2021. She is the Recipient of the Arts Council Streets arts Bursary Award, Agility Award ,2021 and Artist Development Award 2020

PARTNER ACROBATICS

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Henrik Gard and Ali Stanger are the duo behind Cikada Circus, an acrobatic performance company based in Ireland. They focus their practice on Hand to hand and blending acrobatics with abstract or explicit narratives. They have created and toured six previous shows, receiving support from Arts Council Ireland and various arts centres and organisations around Ireland. Their debut production, Cikada (2018), toured across Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, winning awards and nominations along the way. Their most recent production in 2025, Symbiont, is a unique experience presented within the company’s 10-meter geodesic dome, merging performance with a living exhibition for audiences to explore. The same year, they also premiered A Stroll on Our Shoulders, apromenade, site-adaptive performance that uses the city scape and its people as its canvas, and transforms and evolves with each location it visits.

They co-founded ensemble-acrobatic theatre company Siolta Circus, touring both nationally and internationally with two shows.

DANCE

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Catriona, AKA Anica, Louw brings over 40 years of international dance expertise to her work. She is the co-founder and Artistic Director of LD Dance Shawbrook in Co. Longford, established in 2000. Under her direction, Shawbrook has grown into one of Europe’s premier dance retreat and residency centres, featuring multiple studios and both indoor and outdoor theatres. Today, it hosts national and international companies and artists throughout the year. Previously, Anica served as Principal of the Shawbrook School of Dance (1979–2016). She holds a BA in Dramatic Arts, a Higher Diploma in Education (Languages & Drama), and is a lifelong member of the Royal Academy of Dance. A qualified ballet teacher and experienced festival organizer, Anica has played a pivotal role in shaping the Irish dance landscape through her teaching, leadership, and commitment to nurturing both emerging and established artists.

THEATRE

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Alain Servant is a French actor, director, musician and writer. He co-founded the Company ‘Tour de Babel’ in 1989, aged sixteen. The company worked for twenty- five years across disciplines and cultures, through a combination of visual arts, dance, theatre and music, and touring internationally with more than twenty shows, including in France, the Mediterranean (Tunisia, Lebanon) and Central America (Guatemala, Panama, Cuba). Alain specialized over this time in mask acting and the connection between acting, movements and music. He also has extensive experience working with different groups through theatre, including young people, people with disabilities and work in prisons.

He is now an independent artist, based between France and Dublin, where he has been developing his work as a director in the areas of circus and dance, and songwriter and performer (duo with John Linnane). He is also artistic director of ‘La Devignñre’, an artist residency in south-west France.

AERIAL - SUPPORTS

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An aerial performance artist, who has performed regionally and internationally, her performance work is inspired by generational stories and personal experience.

Chloe has produced and curated a number of cabaret events, such as ISL Fest and Wild Roots. 

In 2023 she presented RESONANCE. An aerial theatre piece with takes inspiration from her experience growing up CODA (child of Deaf Adult)and includes ISL (Irish sign language) physical theatre and aerial hoop. She has had the opportunity to show this at the Scene & Heard festival Dublin, Festival of Fools Belfast and as  a full length solo show at Dublin Fringe festival.

In 2024, she travelled to Vienna, Berlin and Italy as part of research and development for JANAS company. She was invited to partake in the judging panel for Dublin Fringe Festival. She also worked with companies such as Dead Centre, Amanda Coogan and the Dublin Theatre of the Deaf, and acted as an aerial advisor the show 'The Race' at the Ark theatre Dublin.

In 2025, She performed for Lunar New Year festival and Teelings Whiskey, and taught on a physical theatre course 'The Physical Stage' in Porto Portugal. 

She frequents the Dublin Drag scene as a resident artist with Haus of Wig. 

She is fluent in Irish Sign Language and holds a degree in Chinese and Business from DIT.

CREATIVE TECHNIQUES

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Seve Feathers manifests oneiric imagery to make the intangible visible in live performances characterised by non-verbal, slow-paced, stylised embodiment and musicality between physicality (handstands) and visual art. Her work questions our relations to existence while seeking to harness the evocative, cathartic and transformative power of authenticity for the audience and the artist.

Seve has created and toured internationally since 2018: solo (“Dis-Oscillate”, “Fleeting”, with Dir. Megan Kennedy, & “Fleshed”) and with Feathers Ensemble (“In the City Still”, “The Spaces We Hear”).
Seve is currently developing “This Skin”, from a body of work created during the Experimental Circus Award 2023 (IE) & the Artistic Development Course 2022 (SKH, SE).

Seve was a Handbalance, Flexibility and Creative Methodology Tutor & Mentor for BOOST (2023) & the Professional Circus Artist Development Programme (2025) in Dublin Circus Project. She has coached Hanstands and Flexibility in Brussels, Dublin and online since 2018.

With a background in Literature, Theatre and Languages, Seve is a regular collaborator for Motion Impulse (Handstand Factory, Modern Methods of Mobility, Handstand Press Magazine) as handstand online coach, model, photographer, assistant editor and writer.

Seve is a member of Apartheid Free Circus (IE).

DANCE

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Simone is a contemporary dance artist whose work fuses bold physicality with evocative storytelling. Trained at Fontys Dance Academy in the Netherlands, she began her career collaborating with Dutch-Brazilian choreographer Guilhermo Miotto before returning to Ireland to work with leading creatives including Catherine Young, John Scott, Fibín Teo, Pan Pan Theatre, and various film companies.

In 2022, Simone was Associate Artist with Irish Modern Dance Theatre, receiving the IRIS Award in partnership with the Merce Cunningham Trust and Irish Arts Centre, New York. She is Contemporary Dance Coordinator at Dublin’s full-time training hub Taaffe Training. Her choreography has appeared at Dancer from the Dance Festival, The Samuel Beckett Theatre with Mespil in the Dark, and Fibín’s Waltsáil Abhaile at An Taibhdhearc, Galway.

Recent highlights include co-creating Terra with Brazilian dancer Alessandra Azevedo(Dublin Fringe Festival 2024), receiving the Arts Council Bursary Award for her visual work Terra Femina, and touring with Catherine Young Dance Company’s Ciseach and Floating on a Dead Sea. In 2025, she begins a new work with her own SOTO Dance Company under Backstage Theatre Longford’s Activate Residency, She is choreographer for CoisCéim Dance Theatre’s broad reach program called Performing Memory (Dublin Fringe Festival 2025), and becomes part of the faculty for University of Limerick’s BA in Irish Dance.

Simone is a contemporary dance artist whose work blends bold physicality with evocative storytelling. Trained at Fontys Dance Academy in the Netherlands, she began her career in The Netherlands with choreographer Guilhermo Miotto before returning to Ireland to collaborate with Catherine Young, John Scott, Fibín Teo, Pan Pan Theatre, and various film companies.

Simone was Associate Artist with Irish Modern Dance Theatre, received the IRIS Award in partnership with the Merce Cunningham Trust and Irish Arts Centre, New York. She is faculty at Dublin’s full-time training hub Taaffe Training. Her choreography has featured at Dancer from the Dance Festival, The Samuel Beckett Theatre (Mespil in the Dark), and Fibín’s Waltsáil Abhaile at An Taibhdhearc, Galway.

Recent highlights include co-creating Terra with Brazilian dancer Alessandra Azevedo (Dublin Fringe Festival 2024), receiving the Arts Council Bursary Award for her visual work Terra Femina, and touring with Catherine Young Dance Company’s Ciseach and Floating on a Dead Sea. In 2025, she begins a new work with her own SOTO Dance Company under Backstage Theatre Longford’s Activate Residency, choreographs CoisCéim Dance Theatre’s Performing Memory (Dublin Fringe Festival 2025), and joins the faculty for University of Limerick’s BA in Irish Dance.

OBJECT MANIPULATION

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My overt interest with objects started at a young age, and though a Jedi Knight was my first choice of career, I eventually realised spinning broom handles was as close as I’d get to that path.

Via several jobs which have a certain amount of flair associated with them (bar work and waiting tables) I managed to find a use for spinning trays, flipping bottles, and my collection of brooms.

I’ve performed in over 30 countries, won awards at festivals, taught countless people to overcome their fear of juggling, and was once described as “Dancing in the face of Gravity.”

AERIAL - VERTICALS

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Monika Palova is a Dublin-based performer and mentor, with focus on solo and duo aerial rope, fabric and hair suspension. She completed professional circus training in London, followed by further training in Barcelona to extend her knowledge of dynamic skills on rope. Monika spends countless hours creating intricate flows and sequences, and delves into exploring her limits through durational and physically challenging performance. Her comprehensive technical understanding and passion for sharing allow her to attend to aerialists of all levels and help support their development in the direction they desire. She performed at the Dublin Fringe Festival, Scene + Heard Festival in the Smock Alley Theatre, Culture Night, BriColage (Festival of Fools) in Belfast, several music festivals and many other events. 

EQUILIBRISTICS

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Tony Mahon is a professional tight-wire artist, circus rigger, and educator with over 17 years’ experience. Trained at the Escola de Circ Rogelio Rivel in Barcelona and a certified Gymnastics Ireland coach, he specialises in funambulism (tight-wire walking with a balancing pole).

From 2016–2020, Tony was one of four European artists selected for the Wires Crossed Project, through which he trained hundreds of participants in the transformative art of balance. He is Artistic Director of AcrophobiA Productions, Technical Manager and Educator at Galway Community Circus, and collaborates widely with companies such as Fidget Feet, Loosysmokes, Circus Factory Cork, and Tumble Circus.

As a tutor, Tony draws on extensive professional performance and rigging experience to support artists in developing technical precision, creative expression, and embodied awareness in equilibristics.

OBJECT MANIPULATION

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Gail is widely recognised as one of the most innovative hoop trick developers in the hooping world over the last 15 years.
She is an award winning teacher and performer who uses her background in physiotherapy to break down movement patterns giving her a unique edge in teaching and sharing her knowledge. Gail has taught and performed extensively as a hula hoop artist across the globe over the last decade, she is inspired by cross training with multiple props and adapting them to her hoop practice. Currently based in Belfast, Gail thrives on spending time in the studio diving deep into breaking down tricks to discover new concepts and ways to create, manipulate and move.

EQUILIBRISTICS

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Maria Corcoran is a circus and street theatre artist based in the midlands of Ireland. She focuses on using ground-based circus skills to create narrative-specific performances, presenting her work nationally and internationally. She has toured extensively with 'StrongWomen Science'; a Circus250 production, which won 'Best Family Event' by Fantastic for Families UK. She is currently touring 'What's Watt' with Symmetry Circus, an outdoor family show with themes of friendship, resilience, and sustainability. She seeks to push the boundaries of her skills and use innovative ways to combine circus and theatre to create accessible, meaningful work for diverse audiences.

She is passionate about circus arts and endeavours to spread the joy that it has given her. She delivers workshops at schools, youth clubs, summer camps, arts events and outreach programs, facilitating for a wide range of ages and abilities. She spent five years as a youth tutor with Cloughjordan Circus Club and is currently part of the Westmeath Creative Practitioner Residency, working at Cluain Lir Community Nursing Unit.