Prague. Zurich. Dusseldorf. Istanbul.
That’s just a snapshot of the tour schedule that Emma Martin is choreographing this summer with her dance company, United Fall.
But there’s one place where she is particularly excited to bring her show, Birdboy, in the coming months.
“I want everyone in Carlow to see this; and beyond,” she says. “I really want to build a dance audience in Carlow. I want it to be associated with dance.”
It’s a goal that Emma has been striving towards since she and her husband, Peter Jordan, left Dublin to move to his family tillage farm in Ballon following the birth of their first child in 2012.
Raised eyebrows
At first glance, it might not be the most likely location for an internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company.
Certainly, Emma admits that initially, the move raised eyebrows amongst her peers.
“It was like, ‘What? Jeez! We’ll never see you,’” she says, laughing. But she has never looked back.
“I think it’s having space, to be honest with you,” she says, explaining that even though she is no longer in the thick of things in the capital, there’s actually “quite a lot of freedom in that.”
“[I’m] sort of in my own world,” she elaborates, “and really holding tightly onto ideas; and how to make them.”
Tiny dancer
Not that Emma was ever a stranger to the countryside.
Originally from Bellewstown, Co Meath, she explains that her journey with dance started – like many other children – with ballet lessons when she was just three.
“I was an absolute messer up until the age of 12; it was literally, ‘Emma, stand in the corner,’” she admits. “And then I actually saw a real ballet dancer in a show… and I kind of went, ‘Oh OK, I think I like that.’”
From that point, Emma’s compass was set in one direction. Recognising her potential, she was accepted by a Russian ballet teacher in Dublin, commuting for lessons at least four days a week.
“My mom either drove me or I went on the train after school, from first year to third year; and did not miss a day, even if I was sick,” she recalls of her commitment.
Soon, she was invited to study full-time in Russia. But?
“[My parents] said, ‘Well, you’re absolutely doing your Junior Cert first.’ They weren’t into the idea of me going 2,000 miles away,” she says.
Eventually, a compromise was reached and Emma was accepted into the prestigious John Cranko School in Stuttgart, Germany at 15. Initially, the plan was to stay there just for transition year, but Emma ended up spending three and a half years there to complete her professional ballet training; where it wasn’t unusual to spend up to eight hours a day dancing.
“And then shows at night sometimes,” Emma adds. “Getting through each year was a rigour.”
After graduating, Emma had hoped to get a place with a ballet company in Stuttgart, but unfortunately, missed out. “That was kind of a big heartbreak,” she admits.
Emma did join a ballet company based near Luxembourg, but at 21, decided to take a break and return to Ireland to study theatre and Russian at Trinity College; and figure out who she was, in the process.
Emma Martin trained as a ballet dancer before setting up her own contemporary dance company. \ Claire Nash
“I was going into a studio and trying to free myself a bit of the constraints of ballet in a physical way and see who I was as a dancer,” she explains.
“And then I came out and said, ‘I’m making a show.’”
So began Emma’s next chapter as a choreographer and creator. Initially, she worked independently, but since 2018, she has operated through her company United Fall. This is funded by the Arts Council, and is also a dance company in residence at the VISUAL Centre of Contemporary Art in Carlow.
Unwilling to put herself in a box, Emma’s work is multi-disciplinary and melds dance with elements of theatre, music and the visual arts. The choreography itself is “sweaty, messy, music-heavy and human. Whatever show it is, it’s quite high-energy,” she says. “The dancers dance very hard in the shows.”
While many of us might tune into Strictly Come Dancing on a Saturday night or tap along to Riverdance, Irish Country Living asks Emma if she thinks that Irish audiences are still a bit intimidated by the idea of attending a contemporary dance performance? Is there a perception that it’s not for everybody? Inaccessible?
“100%,” she agrees. “And dance particularly because it’s like, ‘Oh God, we’re supposed to understand it and what are they saying?’
“That sort of abstraction, navel-gazing thing… I’m just not into it. You’re here to bring an audience along and to make them feel what you’re feeling.”
Birdboy
Perhaps, then, this is a good point to talk about Birdboy: a show that Emma initially created at VISUAL for children in 2019, which will return to Carlow after an international summer tour.
Originally, the idea was sparked by a piece of music called Cuckoo In The Woods from Carnival of the Animals (a musical suite of 14 movements) that Emma was struck by around the time that her eldest daughter turned seven.
“And I thought, ‘Oh my God, I need to make something out of this,’” she recalls.
As the concept evolved, Emma began to explore themes like loneliness or simply “being different”, with the finished show aimed at those aged eight and up.
“The age where you’re sort of seeing yourself in a more social setting, you’re beginning to notice the difference between you and other people, there’s little groups being made, you’re kind of having to be a person in the world… so all of those things,” she lists. That said, she admits she was daunted by the prospect of creating a show for a younger audience.
“Children are the hardest critics in a way,” she says, laughing. “You get away with more with adults. They’re not polite.”
Ultimately, though, she wanted to create something that her daughter and her friends would enjoy. And hopefully coax a few adults along in the process.
Emma Martin wants to make contemporary dance more accessible to Irish audiences. \ Claire Nash
“It’s nice to think through a child’s eyes,” she reflects, “and your own inner child.”
As well as Birdboy, Emma has had another two shows on the road – Night Dances and King Shrine– with work also due to commence on a new production.
Life can be full on; especially as her husband Peter also works in theatre. The couple now have two daughters – Rudi (13) and Kim (3) – with Emma crediting the support of their family to keep the show, quite literally, on the road; including her mother-in-law, Mary Jordan, who ran well-known restaurant, The Forge, at Kilbride Cross, for many years.
“It takes a lot of planning and a lot of sharing our Google calendars,” she says. “We have an amazing family around us that really do help when we need it.”
While Peter’s brother, Patrick, has run the farm since the loss of their late father, Peadar (who was well-known as chair of the IFA sugar beet committee), Emma and Peter have put their own stamp on their surroundings by converting a former grain shed into a rehearsal space. In time, they hope to create an artist residency programme in association with the local council.
“Just to really try and make a hub for dance in the south-east,” says Emma. “It has so much potential.”
The stage is set. Let’s dance.
Dates for Birdboy at VISUAL Carlow will be announced shortly. For further information about Emma’s work, visit unitedfall.ie/birdboy and visualcarlow.ie
Read more
Artist Fiachra Crowley is shaping his own future
Meet the woman designing Lady Gaga's handbags on a Roscommon farm
Prague. Zurich. Dusseldorf. Istanbul.
That’s just a snapshot of the tour schedule that Emma Martin is choreographing this summer with her dance company, United Fall.
But there’s one place where she is particularly excited to bring her show, Birdboy, in the coming months.
“I want everyone in Carlow to see this; and beyond,” she says. “I really want to build a dance audience in Carlow. I want it to be associated with dance.”
It’s a goal that Emma has been striving towards since she and her husband, Peter Jordan, left Dublin to move to his family tillage farm in Ballon following the birth of their first child in 2012.
Raised eyebrows
At first glance, it might not be the most likely location for an internationally acclaimed contemporary dance company.
Certainly, Emma admits that initially, the move raised eyebrows amongst her peers.
“It was like, ‘What? Jeez! We’ll never see you,’” she says, laughing. But she has never looked back.
“I think it’s having space, to be honest with you,” she says, explaining that even though she is no longer in the thick of things in the capital, there’s actually “quite a lot of freedom in that.”
“[I’m] sort of in my own world,” she elaborates, “and really holding tightly onto ideas; and how to make them.”
Tiny dancer
Not that Emma was ever a stranger to the countryside.
Originally from Bellewstown, Co Meath, she explains that her journey with dance started – like many other children – with ballet lessons when she was just three.
“I was an absolute messer up until the age of 12; it was literally, ‘Emma, stand in the corner,’” she admits. “And then I actually saw a real ballet dancer in a show… and I kind of went, ‘Oh OK, I think I like that.’”
From that point, Emma’s compass was set in one direction. Recognising her potential, she was accepted by a Russian ballet teacher in Dublin, commuting for lessons at least four days a week.
“My mom either drove me or I went on the train after school, from first year to third year; and did not miss a day, even if I was sick,” she recalls of her commitment.
Soon, she was invited to study full-time in Russia. But?
“[My parents] said, ‘Well, you’re absolutely doing your Junior Cert first.’ They weren’t into the idea of me going 2,000 miles away,” she says.
Eventually, a compromise was reached and Emma was accepted into the prestigious John Cranko School in Stuttgart, Germany at 15. Initially, the plan was to stay there just for transition year, but Emma ended up spending three and a half years there to complete her professional ballet training; where it wasn’t unusual to spend up to eight hours a day dancing.
“And then shows at night sometimes,” Emma adds. “Getting through each year was a rigour.”
After graduating, Emma had hoped to get a place with a ballet company in Stuttgart, but unfortunately, missed out. “That was kind of a big heartbreak,” she admits.
Emma did join a ballet company based near Luxembourg, but at 21, decided to take a break and return to Ireland to study theatre and Russian at Trinity College; and figure out who she was, in the process.
Emma Martin trained as a ballet dancer before setting up her own contemporary dance company. \ Claire Nash
“I was going into a studio and trying to free myself a bit of the constraints of ballet in a physical way and see who I was as a dancer,” she explains.
“And then I came out and said, ‘I’m making a show.’”
So began Emma’s next chapter as a choreographer and creator. Initially, she worked independently, but since 2018, she has operated through her company United Fall. This is funded by the Arts Council, and is also a dance company in residence at the VISUAL Centre of Contemporary Art in Carlow.
Unwilling to put herself in a box, Emma’s work is multi-disciplinary and melds dance with elements of theatre, music and the visual arts. The choreography itself is “sweaty, messy, music-heavy and human. Whatever show it is, it’s quite high-energy,” she says. “The dancers dance very hard in the shows.”
While many of us might tune into Strictly Come Dancing on a Saturday night or tap along to Riverdance, Irish Country Living asks Emma if she thinks that Irish audiences are still a bit intimidated by the idea of attending a contemporary dance performance? Is there a perception that it’s not for everybody? Inaccessible?
“100%,” she agrees. “And dance particularly because it’s like, ‘Oh God, we’re supposed to understand it and what are they saying?’
“That sort of abstraction, navel-gazing thing… I’m just not into it. You’re here to bring an audience along and to make them feel what you’re feeling.”
Birdboy
Perhaps, then, this is a good point to talk about Birdboy: a show that Emma initially created at VISUAL for children in 2019, which will return to Carlow after an international summer tour.
Originally, the idea was sparked by a piece of music called Cuckoo In The Woods from Carnival of the Animals (a musical suite of 14 movements) that Emma was struck by around the time that her eldest daughter turned seven.
“And I thought, ‘Oh my God, I need to make something out of this,’” she recalls.
As the concept evolved, Emma began to explore themes like loneliness or simply “being different”, with the finished show aimed at those aged eight and up.
“The age where you’re sort of seeing yourself in a more social setting, you’re beginning to notice the difference between you and other people, there’s little groups being made, you’re kind of having to be a person in the world… so all of those things,” she lists. That said, she admits she was daunted by the prospect of creating a show for a younger audience.
“Children are the hardest critics in a way,” she says, laughing. “You get away with more with adults. They’re not polite.”
Ultimately, though, she wanted to create something that her daughter and her friends would enjoy. And hopefully coax a few adults along in the process.
Emma Martin wants to make contemporary dance more accessible to Irish audiences. \ Claire Nash
“It’s nice to think through a child’s eyes,” she reflects, “and your own inner child.”
As well as Birdboy, Emma has had another two shows on the road – Night Dances and King Shrine– with work also due to commence on a new production.
Life can be full on; especially as her husband Peter also works in theatre. The couple now have two daughters – Rudi (13) and Kim (3) – with Emma crediting the support of their family to keep the show, quite literally, on the road; including her mother-in-law, Mary Jordan, who ran well-known restaurant, The Forge, at Kilbride Cross, for many years.
“It takes a lot of planning and a lot of sharing our Google calendars,” she says. “We have an amazing family around us that really do help when we need it.”
While Peter’s brother, Patrick, has run the farm since the loss of their late father, Peadar (who was well-known as chair of the IFA sugar beet committee), Emma and Peter have put their own stamp on their surroundings by converting a former grain shed into a rehearsal space. In time, they hope to create an artist residency programme in association with the local council.
“Just to really try and make a hub for dance in the south-east,” says Emma. “It has so much potential.”
The stage is set. Let’s dance.
Dates for Birdboy at VISUAL Carlow will be announced shortly. For further information about Emma’s work, visit unitedfall.ie/birdboy and visualcarlow.ie
Read more
Artist Fiachra Crowley is shaping his own future
Meet the woman designing Lady Gaga's handbags on a Roscommon farm
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: