SIX DANCE COLLECTIVE
A BIT OF BACKGROUND
Six Dance Collective was founded in 2023 by ballet dancer and choreographer Ruaidhrí Maguire. The impetus to create SDC came from the desire to expose audiences and artists in Northern Ireland to the richness and variety that ballet can bring to contemporary stories.
SDC was formed with a commitment to creating opportunities for artists across all forms to collaborate, inspiring inspiration and growth. In addition to this, the collective is dedicated to expanding audiences and deepening understanding of dance. Through thought-provoking programmes, we want to provide the audiences with new access to the transformative power of dance.
Mission: To forge new artistic collaborations across arts disciplines that use the rich classical dance vocabulary to address contemporary themes along with providing better access to existing repertoire.
Our work is divided into three strands: CREATE, UPLIFT and TRAIN.
CREATE
Creating and Performing new works for Northern Ireland's stages. We aim to bring contemporary relevance to ballet by creating and presenting original, collaborative works that respond to local and global issues.
In 2023: White Doves, four performances at The MAC
Created dance film Corners
'White Doves pas de deux' at Dancer from the Dance Festival
In 2024: After/Before at Belfast Ballet Festival, The MAC
Upcoming in 2025: First fully-professional programme, Belfast
Second youth production, Belfast
UPLIFT
Celebrating and promoting emerging dance
To support the growth of dance in Northern Ireland, we are dedicated to initiatives which promote and celebrate the work of our local dance artists, and bring the community together. This year, we launched our 'Dance in Motion' initiative in collaboration with The MAC, providing a platform for emerging dance artists to share their work-in-progress on stage. This will return in Spring 2025.
We are committed to cultivating opportunities for Irish and Northern Irish dancers nationally. Most recently, we collaborated with Ulster Touring Opera to send SDC dancers to Eisteddfod 2024 in Wales. Additionally, we are proud to collaborate with homegrown talent now working further afield, recently working with dancers Leigh Alderson and Anna McCoy.
TRAIN
Providing access high-quality training experiences to dancers of the future
SDC recognises the need for enriching training and performance experiences for aspiring dancers. We recognise the barrier that many local young people have to access training, so we create access to working dancers and ballet and contemporary dance masterclasses, workshops and intensives.
In 2023: 28 dancers aged 10-17 performed side-by-side with international soloists and musicians in newly created White Doves at The MAC
70 young people engaged with workshops
In 2024: 46 young people engaged with workshops and intensives
To find out more about what we do, visit our website:
WORLD PREMIERE OF A VIEW FROM MARS
In February 2025, SDC will present the World Premiere of A View From Mars, a new dance production by SDC Artistic Director and choreographer Ruaidhrí Maguire, in collaboration with visual artist Conan McIvor at The Naughton Studio in The Lyric
A View From Mars is an ambitious, cross art-from collaboration, featuring a creative team of some of Northern Ireland’s finest established and emerging artists. Fusing digital technology with dance and live music, this new work explores what it means to ‘be a man’ in Northern Ireland and how this view can quickly become toxic. This piece will be a comment on the unique experiences of men in Northern Ireland as well as the pursuit of becoming a ‘better man’ gets passed to each generation.
We are seeking corporate sponsorship and partners to make this happen. We want to work with partners who are interested in innovation, gender equality and making a more harmonious society. Sponsorship will go directly to the making of the production. This partnership offers the chance to align with a project that promotes classical dance as an innovative art-form in Northern Ireland. As our partner, your branding will be displayed across all of our marketing and social channels, ensuring visibility across the island of Ireland.
Other benefits include:
- Complimentary tickets to the open general rehearsal and see this performance before the general public
- A special discount code for all other performances
- Access to behind the scenes events including an in-studio working rehearsal
We place value and worth on all sponsorships that you might wish to support A View From Mars with. We have several tiers of sponsorship and are able to offer bespoke sponsorship packages. We would love you to get in touch with us so that we could explore ways for you to be part of the future of classical dance in Northern Ireland.