Once Upon a Time in the West
Uillinn Dance Season 2026

Once Upon a Time in the West | Esmée O’Brien

Friday 6 November at 7:45pm | 10 minutes | Preview to Silenced by Tara Brandel

Tickets available to purchase here.

This short new dance piece focuses on the Esmée’s experience of moving to south west of Ireland from New York at a young age and being immersed into a colourful rural community. This piece will represent hardship, young love, friendship, nature, self discovery and persistence.

Esmée’s life changed dramatically when her father was diagnosed with brain cancer, her mother who had three very small children had to shut down her fathers business and move their whole family from New York to the middle of nowhere Ireland all while dealing with the trauma of losing her husband to become a full time carer. However, Esmée’s experience in West Cork has been nothing but positive. This dance piece is a celebration of Esmée’s background.

BIOGRAPHY

Esmée O’Brien is a multidisciplinary dance artist whose performance journey began in childhood as a self‑taught acrobat. A long‑standing performer in the Ballydehob Jazz Parade, she has contributed to nearly every production across its twenty‑year history.

She joined the Uillinn Young Dancers at seventeen, later becoming a youth representative, and continued her training with the Alan Foley Academy of Dance, performing at the Everyman Theatre in Cork. Esmée attends University of Limerick Contemporary Dance, where she also served as main dancer and co‑choreographer for Chicago with the university’s musical theatre society.

Her choreography has featured in the Ballyagran Lipsync charity showcase, with three of her groups reaching the final. She has performed in Inma Pavon’s Joyful Square at Dance Cork Firkin Crane, appeared in David Bickley’s film Falling Dreams, and is currently collaborating with artist Hammond Journeaux on a multimedia exhibition honouring poet Eva Gore‑Booth.

Esmee performed at the 2026 Electric picnic festival in Stradbally Portlaoise where she danced for The Donny’s band, an up and coming rock band from Kilkenny. For 2026 Limerick Culture night Esmee did a dance battle against variouse dancers trained in different dance styles at St Johns church. Esmee was a part of a new pilot training for Inclusive dance facilitation at Dance Cork Firkin Crane. She has also has performed at the Hunt Museum in Limerick and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and is presently completing a co‑operative placement at Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, where she is also developing her own residency project.

Credits

Dylan Crowley is a Pianist from West Cork, currently studying BA in Jazz and Contemporary Music Performance at Dublin City University (DCU). His experience includes, All together now 2026 – w/abbi Lee Arthur’s, Blues & jazz club – w/ The Hudson Goulart quartet and Ballydehob jazz festival 2026 – w/black turf. Dylan is developing his own origional jazz piano piece, to create the music for Esmee O’Briens dance performance “Once upon a time in the West” for the Uillinn dance season at the West Cork Arts Centre.