'The dancers are paid from ticket sales': Emer Linehan looks forward to Cork City Ballet's show

Despite receiving no funding from the Arts Council, Cork City Ballet manages to put on a superb show every year. Emer Linehan is delighted to join them for The Sleeping Beauty  

Emer Linehan in the Firkin Crane  rehearsing with Cork Ballet for their upcoming performance of The Sleeping Beauty. Picture: Chani Anderson

At just 14 years of age, ballet dancer Emer Linehan left her family home in Galway to move to London to train in the art form that she has embraced since childhood.  Even at a young age, Linehan attended at least seven classes a week, and her stint in London involved a whole new level of commitment. It has paid off. Linehan, 22, will be on the stage of Cork Opera House in Cork City Ballet's upcoming production of The Sleeping Beauty.

While Linehan has an international career, touring Europe on a contract basis, she always makes sure she has time to return to Ireland to dance in Cork City Ballet's shows, an annual highlight of the arts calendar on Leeside. “It’s a brilliant way to start the season,” she says.