Step Up Dance Project is a programme of professional development for recent dance graduates or equivalent early-career dance professionals in partnership between the Arts Council of Ireland, Dance Limerick, the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick and Dance Ireland.
This year’s five dancers will participate in a performance project with choreographer Mufutau Yusuf, which will give them the opportunity to perform in different locations nationally, including Limerick and Dublin. Curated by Director of Dance Limerick Mary Wycherley and delivered under the guidance of Rehearsal Director, Lucia Kickham, the programme is focused on developing artists as performers while recognising the creativity necessary in the performer’s work.
This year’s Step Up Dance Project participants are:
Aine Kidney
Áine began dancing at a young age, training in the United States before moving to Ireland and joining the Irish National Youth Ballet in 2019. In 2022, Áine began her studies at the School of Ballet Theatre UK studying ballet, contemporary and jazz. During her studies, she joined Ballet Theatre UK Company on their National Tour of the Nutcracker, before graduating with a 1st Class Honours Degree in Ballet Performance. Following graduation, Áine joined the Elephant in the Black Box Company (FR) where she performed a variety of classical and contemporary works and gained invaluable experience by working with an array of guest artists and choreographers from companies including Bevar Damn Company, IVONA Dance Company, Sidi Larbi Company and Paris Opera Ballet. Since moving back home, Áine has been freelancing and reconnecting with the dance community in Ireland and is really excited to be a part of Step Up 2026.
Alison O’Shea
Alison is a Dublin-based dancer and stage manager whose practice exists between performance and production. She began training in ballet with Wicklow School of Dance at a young age and then modern and street dance with FYI Dance Club Wicklow. She later joined Dublin Youth Dance Company, developing in her contemporary style. Alison graduated from The Lir Academy in 2024 with a degree in Stage Management and Technical Theatre, and has since worked with Luail, Ireland’s National Dance Company, touring nationally with productions of CHORA, REVERB, and TROJANS. She has also toured internationally with Impasse by Mufutau Yusuf. Her focus is in stage management for dance, with a clear understanding of production demands and how to best support dancers within the structure of a work. In 2024, she presented a work-in-progress, Paroxysm, at the Irish Youth Dance Festival 2024. She is excited to continue developing her work through the Step Up Dance Project, collaborating with other artists and further expanding her dance practice.
Mayara Pessanha
Mayara is a contemporary dance artist and emerging choreographer, whose work explores identity, nature, and generational memory. She completed four years of dance training, two at ICFE and two at FOR Dance Theatre Portugal, developing a strong contemporary practice. She has performed internationally, including in France, the UK, and Portugal, and presented her solo “Nomadic Echoes” at Laois Dance Platform. She has also collaborated with artists such as John Scott and Roisin Whelan. Skilled in teaching and collaboration, she currently teaches at Dance Laois Studio and works with Cláudia Dias in her company Sete Anos. She looks forward to engaging with the Irish dance community through Step Up.
Jyoti Soni
Jyoti Soni is a contemporary dance artist and movement practitioner, currently based between Ireland and India. Her practice moves across dance, text, and everyday materials, engaging with themes of femininity, care, and imagined motherhood. She works through improvisation and quiet experimentation, often using simple objects and repetitive actions to explore the body as a site of memory, intimacy, and transformation. Her ongoing explorations draw from personal and cultural lineages, tracing and re-imagining connections to home, body, and belonging. Her work navigates inner landscapes and questions of presence through subtle, embodied acts of stillness, crossing, and return.
Martha Tribe
Martha is a freelance dance artist based in Dublin whose moving identity draws from contemporary and ballet techniques, somatic practices and folk dance. Graduating from Rambert School, they have worked with artists and companies including Salma Ataya, Justine Doswell, Simone O’Toole, CoisCeím Dance Theatre, Maiden Voyage. They are an associate choreographer with DYDC and have spoken on their work at Oxford University. Martha teaches contemporary and creative for DYDC; is a qualified Rambert Grades teacher and holds a Level 4 Diploma for Introduction to Teaching and Leading Dance in Community Contexts. In 2025 they received the Dance Ireland HATCH Mentorship Award and The Sarah Rubidge Annual Research Award.
Watch this space for more on the #stepup2026 participants and team.
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Step Up Dance Project is a partnership project between the Arts Council, Dance Limerick, the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick and Dance Ireland. Step Up’s participation in the placement programme is possible thanks to a partnership with Luail – Ireland’s National Dance Company
