Emma Lister
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.