Patrick stefan is an award-winning Irish/Dutch songwriter from Co. Clare & Dublin who released his debut album Wayfare in September 2022, an urban-folk document of Patrick’s unique & colourful travels from Scandinavia, Brazil, to west Africa and back home.
A once-Fulbright scholar, Patrick opted to follow the path of his father’s folk-singing- footsteps after building up an impressive list of collaborators like Niwel Tsumbu, rising stars Aby Coulibaly & Monjola, fiddler Martin Hayes (with the award-winning instrumental group Ensemble Ériu), Loah, Lisa Canny, Fehdah and 2017 Eurovision winner Luisa Sobral.

Described by JOLT as “redefining the idiom”, Bianca Gannon is an Irish interdisciplinary art music composer and improvisor. Weaving together her extensive training in composition, improvised music, piano and Indonesian percussion, her works are often immersive, multi-sensory, and investigative with social commentary. Passionately exploring parallels between seemingly disparate concepts, Bianca is inspired by that which connects us.
Bianca’s free improvisations and instant-compositions traverse time, form and genre. The other-worldly extended harmonies and tunings of solo simultaneous piano + gamelan + singing bowls create an ethereal lyricism layered with meditative pulsating difference tones. Unique timbres, ritualistic rhythms, jazz and post-classical references resonate in an expansive timelessness.

Michelle Mc Bride graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2017 in Fine Art Media. She has since been awarded the Kildare County Council Arts Service Emerging Artist award, exhibited at The Science Gallery Dublin, organised and participated in a number of group visual art exhibitions and continues to work with youth arts groups in County Kildare. She is a founding member of the Kildare Art Collective and the Creative Director of Kildare Yarn Bomb. Her work focuses on community, environmental and societal concerns through the use of everyday objects and thorough research.In addition to being a practising artist, Michelle is also holds a hDip in the Science of Digital Marketing and regularly assists fellow artists in producing artist statements and submitting funding applications.

Alessandra Azevedo is an Afro-Brazilian dancer, Capoeira performer & instructor from Salvador, Bahia – home to the largest African diaspora population & Afro-Brazilian culture.
Her practice is rooted in body movement to promote connections and cultural education, driven by the potential of her African Brazilian heritage and using dance as a tool to achieve it.
Since moving to Ireland in 2015, she has worked with Catherine Young, John Scott, Selma Daniel, Andreia Williams, Barra O’Flannaigh, Yves Lorrhan, Tatiana Campelo, Shiv Ross, Vivian Brodie Hayes, Justine Doswell, Deirdre Murphy, Simeon Smith and other artists since coming to Ireland. Alessandra is using her current Arts Council Bursary award to contemplate and deepen her skills as a performer & facilitator to establish herself as an ambassador of the Afro-Brazilian culture in Ireland.
Along with her dance group Criola Dance, Alessandra shares styles from the many African dances that were developed as a form of personal and artistic expression in areas where the diaspora settled – many rhythms and dances developed from these roots that still echo the strength, culture, resilience and beauty of African communities.

Mark Ball is a theatre-maker and the Artistic Director of Super Paua, a company that makes theatre and art for young people. Mark’s work is often multilingual and multidisciplinary and involves audience participation and engagement. Mark’s practice asks participants to question what they know and how they’ve come to know it; surprises and delights them with their own natural curiosity, creativity and humour, and that of their peers; and creates space for them to harness this to lead their learning and creative ideas to connect in a new way.Mark completed Artstrain a Level 7 in Drama Facilitation and Youth Arts in 2017. Mark has facilitated workshops with over a thousand young people across the country with Riverbank Arts Centre, Mermaid Arts Centre, Hawkswell Theatre, Roscommon Arts Centre, axis: Ballymun, Draíocht Arts Centre, the Abbey Theatre, the Ark Children’s Cultural Centre and Mother Tongues.

Orlaith Ni Chearra is a theatre maker and performer from Ireland. She trained at London Studio Centre on a Leverhulme Scholarship graduating with a BA hons in Theatre and Dance. Her work is multi-disciplinary with strong storytelling at the core. Music, movement, song and dance feature heavily in the theatre she creates. In 2016/2017 she worked with Pickles Theatre Company devising and performing in two new shows (On the Docks & Glendalough Mystery), touring them around Europe for 8 months. Returning to Ireland she was awarded a Cross border cultural bursary from Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company in Derry and in the last two years she has been working as a freelance artist in Galway with Macnas, Bloc TG4, The Galway Theatre Festival, Fíbín, Brick Wall Theatre Company, Dance Players, Beluga Theatre and An Taibhdhearc. Orlaith is also one fourth of the collective Fizz and Chips Theatre Company and in February 2019 they brought their Musical show Dragon to Smock Alley in Dublin as part of the Scene and Heard Festival. Over summer 2019 Orlaith will be developing a new theatre show for young audiences; “Stuck in The Mud” as part of Branar’s Tiny Shows scheme.

STEREOSTEREO is a performance with live music by Purple Door which explores the themes of identity and categorisation, with a focus on challenging stereotypes.Supported by Kildare County Council Arts Service’s First Fortnight Award 2024, in partnership with First Fortnight.This event is part of Riverbank's programme for First Fortnight 2025.https://riverbank.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873650859Artistic Director: Kasia Eliasz
Guitar: Gustavo de Morais
Violin: Rafał Szydłowski
Percussion: Fernando Basqueroto
Stage Manager: Emma White
Light & Sound: John Mahon
Co-written by: Sinead (Purple Door)
Venue: Riverbank Arts Centre
Performers: Purple DoorCreated for: First Fortnight
Funded by: Kildare County Council Arts Services
Organisation: Down Syndrome Ireland Kildare Brach
Photos: Luis Mavszak

Samba Dance Brasil Group
Founder: Rosely SilvaSamba Dance Brasil is an international dance group founded in 2008 by Rosely Silva in Dublin, Ireland. Born in Minas Gerais, Brazil, Rosely holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism from Uni-BH and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Hertfordshire, England. A proud mother of two daughters, Rosely began her journey in Dublin as a samba dancer with a local samba school. With passion, dedication, and a desire to share the vibrancy of Brazilian culture, she established Samba Dance Brasil.Since its founding, the group has performed across Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Italy, Spain, and Brazil, captivating audiences with the energy and joy of samba.Group Objective:
Samba Dance Brasil is committed to promoting Brazilian culture worldwide through dance—particularly the art of samba.Group Goal:
The group's mission is to share the infectious spirit of Brazilian music and dance, bringing happiness and cultural awareness to diverse audiences. Performances are rooted in respect, joy, and a strong sense of community, making Samba Dance Brasil a family-friendly and culturally rich project.

Róisín Whelan is a dance artist born in Carlow. Recent choreographic work includes, In The End, We Begin (Film) commissioned by Dancer From the Dance Festival of Irish Choreographer / John Scott. Róisín is currently leading a large-scale community development project with VISUAL Carlow, bringing creative movement sessions to the homes of people aged sixty-five and over, to combat the effects of isolation. Róisín is the recipient of the inaugural Propel Award, a three year-long artist development and mentorship programme funded by the Strollers Network, Ireland’s largest consortium of Arts Centres and she is also a member of the Northern Ireland Opera Open Studio as an Emerging Choreographer for the 21/22 season. She was the first artist to be awarded an LD Dance Performance Residency in 2021. Other awards and residencies include Backstage Theatre Activate Residency 2020 & 2021, Dance Ireland Regional Residency Award 2020 & 2021, Ballet Ireland Emerging Choreographer Award, an Arts Council Dance Bursary Award 2020 & 2021, and Tipperary Dance Fellowship Award 2020. Róisín holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts and Master of Performance (Distinction) from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. She has performed extensively with Black Box Dance Company (Denmark) and Matthew Bourne’s award-winning New Adventures (UK). Róisín continues to perform in Ireland and the UK as a dancer on stage and onscreen and teaches professionally for several dance companies.

Mateusz Szczerek is a Dublin based dance artist and professional member of Dance Ireland.His recent work includes Digital RSS Commission 2021 in The Civic as a lead artist, choreography for dance/circus production Blame Game premiered at Bristol Circus City in October 2021 planned for touring in 2022/23 and Dance Ireland project LETS DANCE for Cruinniu na nOg 2021.Matt also continues to direct Dance2Connect, a 3 day Street Dance Festival at The Civic supported by Arts Council Festival funding.In 2019 he was selected to be part of The Lir’s LIGHTING DESIGN FOR DANCE mentored by Liz Roche.In 2018 Mateusz choreographed FABLE for Dublin Fringe Festival (Project Art Centre), nominated for best ensemble award. Matt worked regularly with CoisCéim Dance Theatre performing as a principal dancer in THE WOLF & PETER (2017 Sydney Opera House). In 2017 he was selected by Far From The Norm dance company as a lead Irish artist in international production UNION BLACK, funded by Creative Europe touring UK, France, Sweden, Ireland.

Dublin born, choreographer, John Scott studied and performed at Irish National College of Dance/Dublin City Ballet 1982 – 1985 in works by, Anton Dolin, Anna Sokolow and Babil Gandara. He subsequently studied with Choreographer/Composer/Filmmaker, Meredith Monk in New York and performed in her masterpiece Quarry at Spoleto Festival and for Oona Doherty, Yoshiko Chuma, Sarah Rudner, Anna Sokolow and Thomas Lehmen in the US, UK and Ireland.John Scott founded Irish Modern Dance Theatre in 1991 as a platform for his own work and to create international choreographic exchanges with major international choreographers with the Irish dance community to develop a contemporary Irish choreographic voice. His choreographic work includes Divine Madness (2019), Inventions (2018), Cloud Study (2018), Everything Now, Lear, Fall and Recover, Actions in Ireland at Dublin Dance Festival, Galway International Arts Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival and internationally at John F Kennedy Center, Washington DC, New York, Live Arts, La MaMa, Danspace Project at St Mark’s Church, PS 122, New York, Dance Base, Edinburgh, Sounded Bodies Festival and Queer Zagreb, Les Hivernales, Avignon, Tanzmesse Dusseldorf, Forum Cultural Mundial, Brazil and Ramallah International Dance Festival, Palestine.