FIONA QUILLIGAN
Fiona Quilligan, award-winning choreographer, born in Dublin, trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance and from 1982-86 performed with Dublin City Ballet. In 1986, she founded Rubato Ballet, creating original works for the company which received critical acclaim, the Nijinsky medal from Warsaw and AIB Better Ireland Award in Arts and Culture. Fiona received an MA in performance from the University of Limerick. She is a member of Aosdana and a founding member of Dance Ireland.
Fiona has created many works for Project Arts including Signals, Live Sax, Burnt Brown Flem, Monkey Rib, A Close Shave, Pas de Chat, and CASTS AND CONVERSATIONS.
*Her most recent work ANCESTOR premiered in the Irish Film Institute in 2022 and on RTE Player and Digital Arts. It has recently been added to the prestigious catalogue of Filmmakers Coop NYC. Pas de Chat has just been published in Frustrated Writer Volume 2. She recently performed in The Ireland We Dreamed Of by Louise Brangan and Sinead McCann at Smock Alley.
BEN SULLIVAN
Ben is a Dublin based dancer with a passion for choreography and progressive artistic practice. They began training in Dublin based (pre-professional?) dance companies; Company B, DYDC, and INYB. Later, Ben attended “Fontys Dance Academy” in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Most recently they performed in “Ham Sandwiches and Discipline” by NAF Dance as a part of Dublin Fringe Festival, for which Ben was nominated for Best Performer. In the last year Ben has worked on various theatre and dance productions including; “MOSH” by Rachel Ní Bhraonáin, “Trojans Unplugged” by Philip Connaughton, and dance film “Well, Well, Well” by Marie Brett.
OLWEN GRINDLEY
Olwen trained as a dancer in Ireland, England and at the Pina Bausch school in Germany (Folkwang University of the Arts). She has danced in Germany, Ireland and the US, and toured to Japan, Korea, Mexico, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia and St. Petersburg. Irish dance companies include Dance Theatre of Ireland, CoisCéim Dance Theatre, Daghdha Dance Company amongst others. Olwen has also choreographed for theatre and is a teacher of Limón-based contemporary dance.
In 2015, Olwen trained as an osteopath at the renowned British School of Osteopathy in London (now University College of Osteopathy), graduating with a Masters in Osteopathy in 2015. She practices in Merrion Square Osteopaths, and in addition runs a monthly weekend clinic.
As a freelance artist Olwen regularly performs in Fiona Quilligan’s work, most recently ANCESTOR (2022). She is delighted to be working again with Fiona in Crystal Cloud.
ANATOLII LIASKALO
Anatolii Liaskalo was born in 1984 in Dnipro city, Ukraine. At the age of four, he began dancing at a local folk dance school, performing regularly throughout his schooling. During his teenage years he began to learn a variety of dance styles and later joined the Elena Budnitskaia POTOKI school of Theatre and Dance. A psychology graduate of the Dnipro National University of Oles Honchar, he then developed an interest in the relationship between body, movement, and mind, which led to further studies in Physical Oriented and Dance Psychotherapy.
Since 2010, he has worked as a freelance dancer and teacher in Dnipro. A member of the Borodystky Dennis Dance Company 2012-2013, he has regularly taken part in Contact Improvisation festivals in Finland, Spain, Italy and Kyiv. His dance experience also includes performances in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia in 2010, 2015/16. Anatolii’s choreographies include “Chasing the rainbow”, “The 6th day”, “Purgatorium”, short film “Nagini” and “Empathy” in Ukraine (2018-2021).
Since seeking refuge in Ireland in 2022, Anatolii participated in Dance2connect Lab and started working with choreographer Fiona Quilligan, he is delighted to be performing in Crystal Cloud.
SEBASTIAN PIZARRO
Sebastian started his career in Spain working at cinema productions “Le Pettite Regne” in 2007. He graduated in “Production for Theatre, Tv and Cinema” in 2011 at “Garcia Berlanga” and “Ciudad de la Luz Studios” with outstanding marks that granted him a sponsorship from the EU that brought him to Dublin, Ireland. Since then he has been working in the lighting field becoming a Lighting Designer and Artist.
His most recent designs include, “The Table” (Branar), “When the Moon Spun Round” (Fidget Feet) “Wonderground” & “The Land of a Hundred Little Hills” (Ceol Connected), “Paper Plane” & “Adoleta” (Little Lion Productions), “Fall & Float” (Monica Muñoz Choreography), “Mother of Pearl” (Emily Aoibheann), “Making Waves” (Jess Roswell Dance), “The Chronic Identity Crisis of Pamplemousse” (Northern Ireland Opera),” Boy With a Suitcase” (Barnstorm Theatre), “In Vena Cava” (Ella Clarke Choreography), “Conversations Across Time” (DumbWorld), “The Hangmen” Collaboration with Ciaran Bagnall (Gaiety Productions).
