In Conversation with Mariam Ribón

Mariam Ribón, originally from Spain, moved to Dublin late 1995. In 2002 Mariam graduated with First Class Honors in her Master in Contemporary Dance Performance at UL. As a professional dancer she has worked with New Balance Dance Co., Daghdha Dance Co., MaNDaNCe, Cois Céim, Opera Ireland, Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Shakram Dance Company and Catherine Young Dance and various dance companies in Spain.

Mariam has been the Artistic Director of both Dublin Youth Dance Company and The Irish Youth Dance Festival since 2002. Since then she has overseen a ongoing expanding programme of artistic and educational activity, supporting young dancers and students of dance in a wide variety of areas.

Under Mariams directorship DYDC has participated in many high profile local, national and international dance events.

Through DYDC, Mariam is continuously exploring opportunities for youth dance in Ireland and she has created cultural links with Debla Danza, Spain 2007, 2008 Flash Dance Company, Czech Republic 2009, 2010, Ludus Dance Company, UK 2010, 2011, Evoke Youth Dance Theatre, Germany 2012, Diverse Space Youth Dance Theatre, US 2012, Malmo Youth Dance Company, Sweden 2013, L’Acadenie des Arts, France 2013, Dance Northern Ireland 2013, Rimini Si Danza, Italy 2017, 2018 and Rise Youth Dance Company and Reach Festival, UK 2019.

During 2009 Mariam devised, mentored and supervised the |Tran-si-tion| project with DYDC as part of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council’s ‘Place & Identity’ Programme of Per Cent for Art commissions funded through the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

She has collaborated with film directors, visual artists, photographers and designers in different artistic endeavours with Dublin Youth Dance Company.

She teaches extensively all ages and levels and prepares her young dancers to entering 3rd level dance education in Ireland and abroad.