'The dancers are paid from ticket sales': Emer Linehan looks forward to Cork City Ballet's show
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.
“It’s one of my favourite ballets," Linehan says of a classic set to the music of Tchaikovsky. "It has such diverse choreography. You go from one point when it’s nice and calm and then onto the next stage of the storyline where there is trouble. You have to act in a different way.”
Ballet demands acting skills as well as precise movement. “I learned that from being in different ballet schools,” she says.
The first professional school that Linehan attended was the London Russian Ballet School. She took a year out from secondary school, but then homeschooled herself for the GCSEs. After that, she started working towards A Levels but had to gave that up because of the covid pandemic.
Admitting to having been “a little homesick” during her time away, Linehan says she thrived during her time in London. The fact that her mother has always taught jazz dance meant that there was an understanding of Linehan’s passion for ballet. When the London Russian Ballet School shut down, Linehan was accepted into the Brussels International Ballet School where there were more than 20 nationalities.
She was there for three years before covid necessitated her returning home. The school continued to provide online classes. “We did about six hours a day online. I was lucky enough that I managed to get a job working in the evenings as a cleaner in a medical company.”
Currently based in Galway, Linehan works in a Centra shop there during ‘resting’ periods.
Linehan, who says the average career of a ballet dancer ends around the age of 35, is very disciplined. “You have to be. I’m naturally disciplined if I’m doing something I care about.”
After Covid, she moved to Italy, working as a dancer for a year with Etoile Ballet in Milan. She subsequently worked with Ballet Ireland in Dublin and was in the company’s first tour of Nutcracker Sweeties. She has been performing professionally since the age of 18.
Ballet opportunities in Ireland are limited, says Linehan. “It’s very hard to get to a professional level here without leaving the country. You have to make a decision to leave the country to receive training. It would be lovely to have a ballet school here. But we’re lucky to have two companies, especially to have one in Cork.”
Cork City Ballet, founded by Alan Foley who is also the artistic director, lost its Arts Council funding in 2011, and has had to generate its own funding to put on the impressive shows. “The dancers are paid from ticket sales,” says Linehan.
Linehan appreciates the opportunity to dance with top international dancers at Cork Ballet Company. The leading role of Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty will be danced by prima ballerina Katerina Petrova and her prince will be her husband, Tsetso Ivanov, both stars of the Sofia State Ballet in Bulgaria.
Linehan does a lot of work with the International Classical Ballet company, based in Germany. She will be going to Sweden with the company shortly. Going from contract to contract with gaps in between, Linehan says the life of a ballet dancer can be tough. “But it’s definitely rewarding.”
Keeping in shape is vital for a ballet dancer. Linehan has a space at home where she can train and take online classes. When she finally hangs up her pointe shoes, Linehan says she’d like to stay in the industry. She may train as a physiotherapist and there will be teaching opportunities. Ballet dancers need physiotherapists because of the injuries they sustain in the course of work.
“There have been a lot of injuries over the years. I’ve pulled ligaments. There are ankle and back injuries – nothing you can’t get through with the right kind of care,” she says.
If she were to choose her ideal role, it would be that of Giselle. “It’s a very diverse role with a lot of jumps which I love.” It’s all about the challenge for this hardworking ballerina.
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