Emma is a co-founding director of Makeshift Company with her husband Sakari Männistö. The company’s first full-length theatre piece, Insomniac’s Fable, premiered in 2016 and their second piece, Ghost Town, premiered in 2022.  On off-shoot of their stage work, MOVERS SHAKERS MAKERS podcast, launched in 2020.

Emma is a semi-retired dancer, who trained at Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. After graduation she moved to England, dancing with the English National Ballet, The National Ballet of Ireland and English Youth Ballet where she was a principal artist for ten years.

Her rehearsal director work includes The National Ballet of Ireland, Ludovic Ondiviela, Gandini Juggling, Alexander Whitley, Seeta Patel and Hubert Essakow.  

Alongside her work in the dance world, Emma holds a BA in Art History from The Open University. 

Dublin native Zoë is a professional dance artist and maker, currently based in Belgium. 

She graduated from English National Ballet school in 2009 and has worked for The National Ballet of Ireland, English National Ballet, Ballett Vorpommern, The Royal Ballet of Flanders and Company Eastman | Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. 

She has been making works since 2014 and has presented pieces for Step Up in Limerick, The National Ballet of Ireland’s triple bill ‘Bold Moves’, The Bord Gais business to Arts Awards, The Kortrijk Schouwburg re-opening, The Gent Festival of Flanders, Culture Night Ireland and The Royal Ballet of Flanders in house choreographic platform ‘Choreolab’ and Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022. 

Zoë was the 2021 recipient of the Countess Markevizc award and is the Dance Ireland Associate Artist for 2021/22