Róisín O’Brien – CV
Choreography & Writing / Producing / Yoga
I am an independent dance artist based between South Bend IN, US, and Edinburgh, Scotland, focusing primarily on contemporary dance, ballet & working with live music.
My work has been supported by Creative Scotland, Dance Base, Summerhall & Citymoves Dance Agency, has been selected for Resolution Festival at The Place (2018) and has been commissioned by Hidden Door Festival (2022 & 2023). In 2021-2022, I was a selected as an Associate Artist as part of the Lyceum’s L20 Artist Attachment programme.
I have experience both as a creative producer for festivals as well as independent artists and have an established writing practice (The Guardian, Springback Magazine, Fjord Review). I am a qualified yoga teacher (200Hrs YTT with Hot Yoga Edinburgh).
Choreographic Work
Current & Upcoming Projects
| 2022 – present | Female Rock Ballet [working title] Director / Choreographer | Currently in development. Supported by Dance Base, Citymoves Dance Agency SCIO, The Lyceum & Creative Scotland. Looking at the women in rock music history and those making rock music today and exploring overlaps with gendered hierarchies and technical mastery in ballet. |
| Early 2023 | Doom Scroller Choreographer | Collaboration with musician Alexander Auldsmith, a new live music & dance experience. |
| Summer 2023 | lux asunder Co-Director / Choreographer | A new commission from Hidden Door Festival. Working with previous collaborator Rowan McIlvride (Co-Director / Composer) |
Previous Work
| Summer 2022 | Parliament of Ghosts Director / Choreographer Performed at Hidden Door Festival | A specially commissioned site-specific performance for Hidden Door Festival 2022 with composer Rowan McIlvride. Parliament of Ghosts is an atmospheric yet pulsating work where the creatures of the Old Royal High school come alive for one final night. |
| Winter 2022 | Lyceum R&D Performer / Movement Director | One week R&D with Lyceum Creative team for a new project. |
| Summer 2021 | Playing with Books: Kathleen Jamie Performer | One devising week & performance with Edinburgh International Book Festival and The Lyceum. |
| Winter 2019 – Autumn 2021 | A falling ballet Choreographer Performed at DanceLive (2019), Pianodrome (2019), Hidden Door (2021), Summerhall (2019 & 2021) | A falling ballet invites the audience into the space amongst the whirling dancers, aiming to bring people physically closer to ballet and offer new perspectives on the art form. Supported by Creative Scotland, Citymoves Dance Agency SCIO & Summerhall. |
| Spring/Summer 2019 | Great / Some People Say Choreographer Selected for Heads Up (2017), Resolution Festival (2019), Performed at Hidden Door (2019) | Some People Say is a response to the Trump presidency. A polarizing figure, Trump speaks to a divided nation, where contrasting perspectives seem often to further diverge away from each other. Some People Say will reach outwards in an attempt to speak of our contemporary political climate. Some People Say was developed from Great, which premiered at Dance Base’s Heads Up in 2017. |
| Spring 2019 | NTS – One Day to Play Choreographer / Performer | Co-devised with spoken word poet in National Theatre of Scotland project that sees artists creating short performances after one day together. |
| Summer 2018 | The tower, which was not supposed to be there Choreographer / Performer Performed at Only Skin Scratch Night | A work in progress solo inspired by themes in recent science fiction thatquestion perceptions of time, space and identity, and ecological concerns about our relationship to our rapidly changing environment. |
| Summer 2016 | Entrails Choreographer Performed at Venue 45 @theSpace at Edinburgh Festival Fringe | Entrails is a contemporary dance theatre piece inspired by Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. The show confronts our fragility, our messiness and our transience and presents a dark and absurd look at our human bodies, Bodies that malfunction yet persist. Bodies that are denigrated and manipulated. Bodies that resist. |
Journalism
I write about dance for numerous publications, inc. The Guardian, Springback Magazine, and Fjord Review. As an editor, I have worked on: Springback Magazine’s ‘25 years of Aerowaves’ (June 2021); writers’ responses to Re-Think Festival in Umeå in September 2021; and Springback Magazine listings in 2020. I have written programme notes for Scottish Ballet, Scottish Dance Theatre and Elisabeth Schilling, as well as led creative writing responses to Schilling’s Invisible Dances Project in 2020. I have devised and led workshops on the responsibility and ethics of arts criticism (University of Glasgow and The Work Room, Dance art journal) and ran a writers’ mentoring scheme as part of DanceLive 2020.
Employment
I am a certified Yoga Teacher (200hrs YTT from Hot Yoga Edinburgh, 2021), and have taught at PureGym, Yellow Bamboo Yoga, and Edinburgh University Students Association.
I have experience in independent production (Working with Choreographer Malcolm Sutherland, 2023- Present, and ‘Into the Long Green Jaws’ at MANIPULATE 23), festival producing (MANIPULATE 23, DanceLive 2020 and 2021), Communications Management (Aerowaves 2022), and Arts PR (Assembly Festival 2018 and 2019).
Qualifications
Diploma in Dance Studies (Distinction) – Trinity Laban, 2016
MA in Film Studies (Distinction) – University College London, 2014
MA(hons) in English Literature (1st Class) – University of Edinburgh, 2012
Affiliations
Current Board Member of Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland
Róisín O'Brien Dance 