Oona Doherty

Raised in Belfast, Oona Doherty studied at the Contemporary Dance School and at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. A dancer and choreographer, her style is known for its strength and for its expression of anger in her exploration of the stereotypically male codes of the Belfast suburbs in Hope Hunt or Hard to be Soft—A Belfast Prayer. In Lady Magma, she explores female identity, introducing a dance close to a state of trance, and plays with the border between the audience and the stage. “The real feminist challenge with Lady Magma is to give dancers who have become mothers the opportunity to tour with their family, instead of being away from them for several months, as is the case with most productions. It’s something we can do with the Festival d’Avignon, and it’s something I want to fight for.

Portrait of Oona Doherty © Luca Truffarelli