Dēmos | Cast and Creative Team Biographies
Dancer

Justine Cooper

Originally from New Zealand, Justine has been based in Ireland as a freelance dance artist, teacher and choreographer since 2008. Most recently working with Cois Céim Dance Theatre, (In the Magic Hour) June 2021, Justine Doswell, (DYAD, Contrapuntus III, ‘The Thing Is ?’) Mary Wycherley, (Weathering, 2020), Oona Doherty (Lady Magma 2021, 2020, 2019), Liz Roche Company ( Dēmos, The Here Trio, Alternatively Terrific and Gentle, Wrongheaded, Bastard Amber, Body and Forgetting, Fast Portraits, Secondary Sources), United Fall (I am Ireland, Girl Song, Tundra, Dogs, Listowel Syndrome ), Maria Nilsson Waller (Merry.go.round 2018, 2016,) Anu/ with Cois Céim Dance Theatre ( These Rooms, Lift Festival 2018, DTF 2016), with Cois Céim Dance Theatre ( Body Language, RHA 2017, Agnes, Dance Talking), Junk Ensemble (Dusk Ahead, Bird with Boy, Sometimes We Break), Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre (company member 1998-2000). Justine’s own work 'Folds of the Crane' was presented as part of Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival 2015, Dublin Dance Festival 2016 and What’s Next Festival, Limerick 2018.
Dancer

Kévin Coquelard

Kévin began dance and theatre in France. In 2008, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris where he danced in choreographies by Hofesh Schecter and Itzik Galili. Kévin made his Irish debut with John Scott in 2013, performing in New York, Paris and Dublin. Since, he also performed for Philip Connaughton, Catherine Young, Maria Nilsson Waller, Liz Roche Company, Jenny Roche, Theatre Lovett. His first solo, “Le somnanbule” won the Public’s Final Choice Award and the 2nd Prize of Dance in the 22nd Solo Tanz Festival in Stuttgart in March 2018. In 2019, he collaborated with Emma Martin - United Fall on "Birdboy", tour to come in 2022.
Dancer

Lucia Kickham

Lucia is a Dublin-based dance artist, who has been performing and collaborating internationally since 2011. Trained in The Netherlands, she has worked with companies and artists which include Philip Connaughton, Junk Ensemble, TRASH, Maria Nilsson Waller and Jessie Keenan Dance. In recent years Lucia has been a recipient of awards from the Arts Council of Ireland, Dance Ireland, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Tipperary Dance and Le Grand Studio Bruxelles. In 2020 she was awarded a Next Generation Award from the Arts Council of Ireland to develop her performance improvisation practice with a recent showing of her work SOLO-ing presented at Tipperary Dance International Festival 2021. Lucia was Dance Ireland HATCH Artist 2018 which lead to the creation of ensemble work, INIT:The Warm Up Project performed at Dublin Fringe Festival 2019. Lucia is Associate Artist with Liz Roche Company 2019 - 2021 and is very grateful for the generous support she has received during this time.
Dancer

Yumi Lee

Yumi is an Ireland based professional dancer, improviser and performer. Yumi holds a MA degree in Contemporary Dance Performance from the University of Limerick in Ireland. She started ballet training at 6 years old in South Korea and additionally trained in jazz, traditional dance, aerial dance and contemporary dance. She has worked as yoga, aerial yoga and pilates instructor in Gwangju and Seoul, South Korea. After completing her education in South Korea, she has been training contemporary dance and capoeira in the UK, Germany, Austria, Poland and Ireland. Yumi is continuing her career by using her knowledge and experience from different movement backgrounds such as ballet, traditional Korean dance, contemporary dance, release technique, yoga, Feldenkrais, Pilates, Taekwondo, capoeira, flying low, floor work, somatics, spiral dynamics, dance theatre and contact improvisation. Since her graduation, she has been working as a freelance dancer. She did a Wave project with Winona Lin, who is a contemporary musician based in Berlin. Also, she worked on a screen dance project which was directed by Fei Wu and was nominated at Albania Dance Meeting-Festival. She was invited as a guest lecturer from the University of Limerick to work with MA students. She has performed with Liz Roche company in Limerick and Dublin, Ireland.
Dancer

Luke Murphy

Luke has danced with Ultima Vez from 2014-2018 touring internationally in productions of In Spite of Wishing and Wanting, Booty Looting and Spiritual Unity and Punchdrunk since 2009, performing leading roles in the original casts of The Third Day-Autumn (HBO/Sky TV 2020) Sleep No More in Shanghai (‘16-‘18), New York City (’11-‘15) as well as productions of The Drowned Man in London and Sleep No More in Boston. In addition he has danced in the companies of Martha Clarke, Kate Weare and Pavel Zustiak, and in projects with Ben Duke, Alexandra Waierstall, John Kelly, John Scott, Luca Silvestrini, Jonah Bokaer, Bill T Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company and others. With his own company, Attic Projects, Luke has created and produced eleven evening length works since 2012- touring throughout Ireland, UK, Germany and US. He has been supported by Arts Council of Ireland Arts Grant Awards since 2018 and is currently dance artist in residence and dance curator at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre. Luke's most recent project, a four part live performance mini-series Volcano premiered at the Galway International Arts Festival in September 2021. www.atticprojects.com

Dancer

Glòria Ros Abellana

Glòria graduated in classical dance at Institut del Teatre in Barcelona, she continued her studies at Cannes Jeune Ballet (France). She joined Introdans Ensemble voor de Jeugd (NL), with whom she performed internationally in pieces by Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Inbal Pinto. As a freelance, she has worked with Arno Schuitemaker, Arthur Rosenfeld and Núria Guiu, among others. She has recently premiered “IAM | En alguna ocasió”, co-created with composer and pianist Carles Viarnès, and is currently performing as well present time compositions with saxophonist Albert Cirera and singer Celeste Alías. Her shows and screendance projects have been presented in Spain, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Portugal, The Netherlands and Australia. Besides her activity as a performer and maker, Glòria also works as a teacher, movement assistant for theatre pieces, and manager at the performing arts production house Elclimamola. Glòria was awarded 1st prize in Shortcuts - Experimental Dance Film Festival (Austria) and has been a guest teacher at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (University of Limerick, Ireland). As a member of the Liz Roche Company (Ireland), she has performed in Totems, I/Thou, The Here Trio and now Dēmos.
Dancer

Emily Terndrup

Emily is a performer, choreographer, and director based in Cork, Ireland originally from Des Moines, Iowa. Emily has spent much of the past decade working in immersive dance theater as a performer and rehearsal director for Punchdrunk's acclaimed 'Sleep No More' (2012-2019) in both New York and Shanghai. As a company member with Gallim Dance (2012-2014), she performed choreographer Andrea Miller's I Can See Myself in Your Pupil, Blush, Wonderland, Fold Here, and Mama Call throughout the US, Europe, and South America. Emily has also collaborated and performed with choreographers Bobbi Jene Smith, Luke Murphy-Attic Projects, Shannon Gillen + Guests, and Gregory Dolbashian. Most recently, Emily served as a rehearsal director and Creative Associate at Gallim Dance, and the Creative Director for The McKittrick Hotel, crafting content and choreography for their celebrated immersive parties. With collaborator Derrick Belcham, she has choreographed, directed, and produced three evening-length dance theater works: FABLE (2015), DEBUT (2014), and The Wilder Papers (2014) at the Knockdown Center in New York. Together, Belcham and Terndrup have created music videos for The Antlers, My Brightest Diamond, Marissa Nadler, White Prism, BLKKathy, and Mary Lattimore. Derrick and Emily's films have been presented at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, CASCADIA Dance & Cinema Festival, KRAFTA DOC, Greensboro Dance Film Festival, SV Showcase/40 North Film Festival, Triskelion Arts Dance Film Festival, and San Souci Dance Festival.
Dancer

Mufutau Yusuf

Nigeria-born Irish dancer, Mufutau had his introduction to contemporary dance at the age of 16 with Dublin Youth Dance Company and two years later professionally with the Irish Modern Dance Theatre in the production ‘Fall and Recover’, the first of many works with that company. He then subsequently enrolled in a four years undergraduate program at Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, graduating in 2016. Since graduating Mufutau has worked as a freelancer with various choreographers meanwhile developing his own artistic works. He is currently working as a freelancer between Ireland and Brussels where he works with Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus/Ultima Vez.
Musician

Kate Ellis

Cellist Kate Ellis is dedicated to the performance and exploration of all things with the shiny label of new music. Kate is the Artistic Director of Crash Ensemble, cellist with Martin Hayes’ newly formed Common Ground Ensemble and is often seen playing with the musicians of Yurodny, TRE trio and Fovea Hex.
Her great range of musical collaborators include Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon Giddens, Martin Hayes, Savina Yannatou, Barry Guy, the Irish Gamelan Orchestra, Gavin Bryars, Gavin Friday and Karan Casey. She has commissioned new music from a diverse range of Irish composers, including Donnacha Dennehy, Barry Guy, Niall Vallely, Adrian Hart and Linda Buckley, and has premiered numerous new works by composers including Nico Muhly, Gerald Barry, David Lang and Terry Riley. Kate has toured and broadcast in Australia, the USA, Europe and China, performing at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Centre, Shanghai EXPO, Istanbul Akbank Jazz Festival and Edinburgh International Festival.
Kate is currently writing music with UK based musician Laura Cannell as part of a year long project releasing music monthly alongside bespoke film as a creative documentation of 2021. This project is supported by the Arts Council of England. Kate is the recent recipient of residencies at the Martello Tower, Jaywick, UK and at the Cultural Centre Irlandais, France 2020/21. www.kateellis.com

Musician

Brian Bolger

Brian is a classical guitarist and composer based in Dublin and is artistic director and performer with Dublin Guitar Quartet. Noteworthy activity with this group includes an album release on Philip Glass’ own record label Orange Mountain Music in 2014, a premiere performance of How Little You Are by Nico Muhly in Austin, Texas in 2015 and a four-night run of a 60-minute commission by Michael Gordon at the BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Next Wave Festival in December 2016. In 2020 the quartet collaborated with Grammy award-winning vocal ensemble ‘Roomful of Teeth’ in a tour of the US performing music by Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner and Philip Glass. Brian has undertaken ten tours of the US with the quartet, performing at many leading venues including Lincoln Centre NYC, Rockefeller Centre NYC, Celebrity Series of Boston, Shalin Liu in Rockport, Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Arts and Yale University to name a few. Brian also plays electric guitar and he began performing with Crash Ensemble in the summer of 2017 during their ambitious Crashlands tour of remote locations around Ireland, performing in premieres by Gerald Barry, Julia Wolfe, Peter Adriaanz, Kate Moore and Ed Bennet. He has also performed on Crash Ensemble’s most recent album ‘Crashlands’ and has appeared with the group at several New Music Dublin festivals in the National Concert Hall. Brian was commissioned by Music Network to write a piece for guitarist Sean Shibe and Ben Johnson for their nationwide tour in November 2019. He has also written for Crash Ensemble. Either Way for two guitars, violin and cello was premiered at the Hugh Lane Gallery on May 5th 2019. Brian has a first-class honours Bachelor of Music degree from the Conservatory of Music and Drama (DIT) and has also completed an MA in Composition with distinction from Queen’s University Belfast.
Musician

Alex Petcu

An Irish musician of Romanian origin, Alex is quickly establishing himself both nationally and internationally as a percussionist of the finest calibre. His recent appearances as a soloist with both RTE orchestras the Irish Chamber Orchestra are some of his main highlights so far. His debut album, "Alex Petcu: In Time", released on the RTE lyric fm label, showcases both seminal works and new contributions to the percussion repertoire. An active freelance musician, Alex performs with a wide variety of ensembles and in a range of settings. He regularly performs with the Crash and Hard Rain ensembles, two of Ireland's main contemporary groups, and the various professional orchestras in Ireland. He is also heavily involved in the creation of new music and regularly works with composers. Recent projects include "Beats, Bells and Bridges" a collaboration with composer, Tom Lane and "Invitation to a Journey", a dance/theatre/music collaboration with music by Deirdre Gribbin. Aside from his performing activities, he is also a keen teacher and currently teaches percussion at the CIT Cork School of Music. He holds an MA in Music Performance, and an MSc and BSc in Physics.
Choreographer

Liz Roche

Liz is the choreographer and Artistic Director of Liz Roche Company. Since 1999, the company has produced and toured her works performing throughout Ireland and internationally, most notably at the Baryshnikov Arts Centre, New York, The Abbey Theatre, The South Bank Centre, London, Meet in Beijing Festival and Powerhouse Brisbane. Her work has been commissioned by The Abbey Theatre, Dublin Dance Festival, Cork Opera House, The National Ballet of China, Scottish Dance Theatre, Solas Nua Washington DC, Goethe Institut Irland, Arcane Collective, Croi Glan, DTI and CoisCeim. Her 2015 work Bastard Amber was the first dance work ever to be commissioned from an Irish choreographer for the Abbey Theatre. She has also choreographed extensively in theatre and opera at The Gate Theatre, the Abbey Theatre, Landmark Productions, Lyric Theatre Belfast, Siren Productions, The Ark, Irish National Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, National Opera of Korea, Rossini Opera Festival, Liceu Barcelona, Opernhaus Zurich, Opera de Nice and Opera Ireland. In 2020 Liz was elected to Aosdána in recognition of her contribution to the Irish cultural landscape.
Composer

David Coonan

David is a composer who has written for a broad array of different musical contexts, including chamber, orchestral, and choral music, as well as music for theatre, dance, and film. His music has been performed by, amongst others, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the RTÉ National Symphony and RTÉ Concert Orchestras, Chamber Choir Ireland, EXAUDI vocal ensemble, the Choir of the Chapels Royal HM Tower of London, the RTÉ Contempo Quartet, the Gildas Quartet, and Irish National Opera. In recent years, collaboration has had an increasing influence on his practice:he has worked with theatre makers Marina Carr and Wayne Jordan on their adaptation of ‘Anna Karenina’ at the Abbey theatre (2016/17), visual artist Niamh McCann on her solo show ‘Furtive Tears’ at the Hugh Lane Gallery (2018), and playwright Dylan Coburn Gray on a recent short opera ‘verballing’ as part of Irish National Opera’s 20 Shots of Opera project (2020). Current and upcoming projects include ‘Horse Ape Bird’ – a new youth opera, written with Dylan Coburn Gray – for Irish National Opera and Music Generation to be performed summer 2022. He has won numerous awards including the Irish Arts Council’s 2016 Next Generation Bursary Award, the Jerome Hynes Composition Award (NCH, Dublin), and the IMRO Composition, and Choral Music Awards (Feis Ceoil, Dublin). He studied at Trinity College Dublin, and undertook postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music, London, where he won the DipRAM award for ‘outstanding final portfolio’, and was awarded his PhD in 2018.
Set and Costume Designer

Katie Davenport

Katie is a set and costume designer based in Dublin and trained in Production Design for Stage and Screen at IADT. She has designed for many major theatre, opera and dance companies in Ireland, including The Abbey, The Gate, Irish National Opera, Landmark, United Fall, Liz Roche Dance Company, Northern Ireland Opera, Theatre Lovett, thisispopbaby and Rough Magic and has associated at St Ann’s Warehouse (New York) and The Barbican (London). She has also worked in the art department at Ardmore studios, has designed for RTE and won an ICAD for Piranha Bar in 2016. In 2019 she was nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award and represented Ireland at The Prague Quadrennial, a world exhibition of theatre design, and in Beijing NCPA at Evolving Design for Performance in 2016.Katie is vice chair of the Irish Society of Stage & Screen Designers and was Designer in Residence at The Gate Theatre Dublin in 2017. She recently participated in a cross disciplinary group curated by Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and Project Arts centre, Studio Interruptions in 2020 and is currently contributing work towards a collaborative publication later in 2021.
Lighting Designer

Sinéad McKenna

Sinéad is an internationally renowned Lighting Designer working across theatre, opera, dance and film. She has won two Irish Times Theatre Awards for Best Lighting Design and a Drama Desk nomination for Best Lighting Design for a Musical. Her many designs include Straight To Video, The Approach (Set and Lighting), Asking For It, Howie The Rookie, Greener, October, Last Days of The Celtic Tiger and Blackbird, (Landmark Productions),Teenage Dick (Donmar Warehouse, London) Parade (Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris), Insane Animals (Home, Manchester), Epiphany, Furniture and Once Upon A Bridge (Set and Lighting) (Druid Theatre), The Tales of Hoffman, Griselda, La Bohème (Irish National Opera) Drama At Inish, The Unmanageable Sisters, Othello, Aristocrats, The Plough and the Stars, The Burial at Thebes (Abbey Theatre); Angela’s Ashes, The Musical (Bord Gais/Tour), The Children, Beginning, Assassins, The Becket/Pinter/Friel Festival, Private Lives, Juno and the Paycock, A month in The Country (Gate Theatre); Famished Castle, Travesties, The Importance of Being Earnest, Improbable Frequency, The Parker Project, Life is a Dream, Attempts on her life (Rough Magic). Other companies she has designed for include Fishamble, CoisCeim, Gúna Nua, Decadent, Gare St Lazare Ireland, Corn Exchange, THISISPOPBABY, Siren, Second Age, Performance Corporation and Semper Fi.
Visuals/Projections

José Miguel Jiménez

José Miguel is an actor, director and filmmaker based in Dublin. A theatre graduate from Universidad de Chile and Trinity College Dublin, he is also a founding member of the artist led initiative DRAFF, an international magazine focused on dance and theatre. He is a founding member of The Company theatre ensemble, acting as director for all their productions between 2009 and 2012, and as DOP on Under the Selfsame Moon written by Brian Bennett. José has developed extensive work as a video designer, collaborating with theatre, dance and visual artists. These include Hamnet, Shakespeare’s Last Play and Beckett’s Room with Dead Centre, Salò, Redubbed by Dylan Tighe, After by Liv O’Donoghue and many others. He has directed and filmed music videos for Boii, We Raise Bears, Dylan Tighe and 3 films for the music of Irish contemporary composer Andrew Hamilton, premiered at IFI. He has collaborated with choreographer Aine Stapleton in both of her films about Lucia Joyce, Medicated Milk and Horrible Creature, and most recently with Maeve Stone in The House Fell as DOP. He was recently commissioned by Project Arts Centre in Dublin to produce the short film The Future has been Bad. His documentary See the Man has been screened at more than thirteen festivals in three continents.
Dramaturg

Shane O’Reilly

Shane is an actor and writer. He previously co-created NAHER…Closer, Nearer, Sooner with The Liz Roche Company. He has previously co-created FOLLOW, FARM and CARE with WillFredd Theatre and has written The Matador, The Vampire with No Teeth, The Genealogy Project, The Waterboys, Windowpane, PAL among other works. His new play Swansong, produced by Barnstorm Theatre Company, will premiere in Spring 2022. As an actor Shane has performed with The Abbey Theatre, The Gate Theatre and Landmark along with other Irish and international companies.