OD WORKS
Artistic Director- Oona Doherty
Director of Development – Dorothee Alemany
Administration – Christine Maupetit
Logistics Manager – Lucie Gissinger Maurandy
Technical Collaborators -Marie Predour, Lisa Marie Barry, Maxime Jerry Fraisse, Thibaut Gambari, Anat Bosak, Siobhan Barbour, John Gunning, Eoin Lennon, Nadir Bouassria
Light design – John Gunning
Photography, cinema, sound – Luca Truffarelli
Cast – per Project
Music – per project
Set – per project
Stage manager – per project
OD WORKS
OD Works is an international dance company rooted in the vision of Irish choreographer Oona Doherty. Founded in Belfast in 2020 and established as a French Association in 2021 and based in Marseille in 2023, the Company reaches audiences across the world.
Since her breakthrough solo Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus in 2016, Oona Doherty has built a bold and distinctive body of work ranging from solos and ensemble pieces to films and art installations. Her choreography is known for its raw physicality and deep social resonance.
Alongside creating and producing work that receives international recognition, the company is developing outreach and education programmes for communities around the world.
2026 Creation of Leather Jacket, premiering at Bold Tendencies, London. A minimal piece rooted in rhythm and bouncing movement, revisiting a 2015 solo.
2025 Oona creates The Wall France for Ballet Preljocaj Junior. The company tours Specky Clark for large stages and the solo Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus, while rebuilding the cage — the iconic set element of Hard to be Soft, A Belfast Prayer — enabling the transmission of the work to groups of young local girls.
2024 Oona serves as Artistic Director of the National Youth Dance Company (NYDC), UK, creating a new work for 32 young dancers. She is appointed Associate Artist at Pavillon Noir, Aix-en-Provence, and premieres Specky Clark there in November.
2023 International touring of the company’s three works and establishment of the company’s base in Marseille, France.
2022 Oona creates Navy Blue for 12 dancers, selected as one of seven choreographers for the Big Pulse Dance Alliance. The work premieres at Kampnagel, Hamburg, co-produced by LEAD. That same year, she choreographs the international tour of musician Jamie xx, and Lady Magma is remounted at the 76th Festival d’Avignon.
2021 Oona is awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale in recognition of her choreographic career. Her solo Lazarus catches the attention of collective (La) Horde, directors of the Ballet National de Marseille, leading to an adaptation by collaborator Sandrine Lescourant for the ballet’s 22 dancers.
2019 Oona is featured at the Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Seine-Saint-Denis. She creates Lady Magma, produced by Prime Cut Productions (Belfast) and La Briqueterie (Paris).
2018 International touring of Hard to be Soft — A Belfast Prayer and Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus, alongside collaborations with Girl Band and The Rubberbandits. The installation Death of a Hunter is first presented at the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast.
2017 Creation of Hard to be Soft — A Belfast Prayer, a physical prayer for Belfast, later voted Best UK Dance Show by The Guardian.
2016 Creation of Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus, the breakthrough solo that brought Oona Doherty worldwide recognition, self-produced by the artist.
Oona Doherty
Oona Doherty was born in 1986 in London and moved to Belfast at the age of 10. She trained at St Louise’s Comprehensive College in Belfast (GCSE and A-Level Dance), the London Contemporary Dance School, the University of Ulster (BA Contemporary Dance), and Trinity Laban London (MA, Transitions Dance Company).
From 2010, she performed with companies across Europe, including TRASH (NL), Abattoir Fermé (BE), Veronika Riz (IT), Emma Martin/United Fall (ROI), Enda Walsh & Landmark Productions (ROI), and Irish Modern Dance Theatre (ROI).
Oona Doherty was selected as an Aerowaves Artist in 2017 and was Associate Artist at Maison de la Danse, Lyon (FR) in 2017/18. She was Artist in Residence at Dublin Dance Festival in 2020/22 and a Big Pulse Dance Alliance Artist in 2021/23. In 2021, she was awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale in recognition of her choreographic career. She was Artist Associate of Ballet Preljocaj (FR) in 2024/25 and holds an Honorary Fellowship from Trinity Laban.