Irish dancer Emma O’Sullivan, an All-Ireland Champion known for her street performances and viral videos shared by over 20 million people worldwide, shares her story of touring the world dancing, sharing her gift with others, and longing for Connemara. 

For Emma, getting into Irish dancing came naturally. Her family has always been known for music and dancing, where her great-grandparents ran the local Rambling House, filling their home with music.

“People came from far and wide to be part of this experience that my great grandparents offered at their Rambling House. My great-grandmother came from Inishark, and my great-grandfather was from Inishbofin, which are two islands holding strong traditions of music and dancing. It is very much part of our family identity,” says Emma.

Emma remembers that her life was completely filled with music growing up. 

“The earliest memory I have is from when I was only a baby laying in my cot, and I could hear the sound of my great-grandfather tuning his fiddle. I was bopping along to music before I could even talk or walk, it was just around me all of the time and something that was part of me as well. It wasn’t something I was very conscious of when I decided to start dancing. I couldn’t help but get in there.”

Becoming A Professional Dancer

In her late teenage years, Emma decided to build on the steps she had learned so far and spent time with renowned dancers in Connemara. It was not long until she really started to get into her craft.

“I started dancing the Shannon style Irish dancing, where the dancer has to represent what happens in the music and ‘dance the tune’. In competitions, then, you are being judged on your phrasing of the tune. I started to do really well in competitions and became a professional dancer. It was a feeling that gave me great satisfaction since I won in competitions where the people I had learned from were also participating, and I won based on my own style, knowledge, knowledge and interpretation of the music. I think I really had an advantage as I had been listening to music constantly since I was a baby, and that had given me a very good understanding of it.”

Emma’s grandfather had a very big influence in her life, and following his advice, Emma took on the world as an Irish dancer. 

“After my grandfather passed on, I took it very seriously that I would follow his advice. He told me that; ‘Whatever happens, do what I did and just say yes to absolutely everything. Don’t mind practical worries, or if you feel scared or nervous, just say yes anyway. If you have a talent like you do, you have to share it with the world. There is no point in music without dancing, you’ve got this gift and you need to be generous with it since it makes people happy.’ After he told me this, I took him with me in my heart wherever I went. If I wanted to turn down some opportunity, I took a moment and thought to myself ‘granddad would’ve loved to come along for this’, and so I went, and brought him with me in spirit in everything I’ve done.”

Struggling With Back Problems 

The thing about saying yes, as Emma quickly realised, is that it leads to a constant flow of opportunities. She ended up travelling the world performing for years, until she felt that she had run out of steam. 

“I suffered bad back problems and the pain was relentless. I also missed my family being away all the time and wanted to take a step back from solid travel. I had a very bad thought as I couldn’t allow myself to say no, and that was that I would mess my back up to the point where I couldn’t dance anymore. In that way, I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about saying no and leaving the dancing chapter of my life behind me.”

In a desperate attempt to leave dancing behind, then, Emma started dancing on the streets of Galway, hoping that the pebbled stones would do their part for her hurting back to get even worse.

“I was in complete shock when the street permonaces actually made my back improve. As a dancer, you are always told that pounding on stone will have your body destroyed, but it strengthened my muscles in ways that really helped my pain. As a street performer, you need to dance constantly for two hours at a time, because the audience changes, and as the people of Galway really appreciated my performances and it made them happy, I went on performing for about four years on the street. I felt that this was my granddad’s doing, he made me say yes to dancing again.”

Finally, Emma’s back problems surfaced again and she hit a wall. 

“To save my pitch, I had to start dancing at 7AM every day, and I’d be walking through town in my pajamas every morning before I changed into my performance outfit in one of the local pubs, my ‘green room’. One day, my back just completely gave up and I was even struggling to walk. I was emotionally gone too and I couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t cope with the pain and the fact that I couldn’t keep doing my work as a dancer. I had become very well-known by that point in Galway and it would upset me every time I was in town and someone asked me ‘are you dancing today?’, I just couldn’t get into it.

As Emma had been struggling with back problems for years, her threshold for pain was very high. This meant that, this time, things were really bad.

“I had to stop performing and I moved back to Connemara, where I was born and raised. I fell deeply in love with the place again, and got to experience the magic of it once more. As I had no idea how long the recovery would be, it was a mind-blowing experience for me to take everything day-by-day. I used the sea, the hills, and landscape as part of my rehabilitation. I could notice my progress as I could walk further and further into the landscape as time went on. I also have nerve issues which I would get instant relief from by throwing myself into the cold sea, immediately taking away the pain.”

The Way Back

Throughout her recovery, Emma’s followers on social media missed the videos of her dancing, asking her to offer some kind of online version of what she used to do on the streets. 

“When the pandemic hit, I had gotten my movement back to some extent and I could walk others through the steps. I could cover people in this way, where I might not be able to teach by dancing myself, but by showing the steps. I had no idea how I would make something out of an online dancing class, but I thought of granddad, and said yes.”

In Emma’s classes, she not only focuses on the dancing, but also on the culture of Connemara and the role that dancing has played there.

“My students call it Zoom Nós dance classes as I teach Sean Nós dance classes, and it is absolutely gas. I share stories of Connemara as well and I include links and pictures for them to get to know this magical place better.”

In combining her dancing with an introduction to Connemara, Emma had the idea of offering weekend retreats. 

“I wanted to recreate the dance classes of us chatting about this place over Zoom, and actually show people how life is out here. During the retreat, I offer a dance class, we spend a day exploring the mountains, we meet a local farmer who raises Connemara ponies, and, of course, share a night listening to music. Here, I am recreating what happened in my great-grandparents’ house. It is a different experience to what you get at a pub, the musicians interact with the audience and their conversation informs the set-list for the night. The musicians and audience share stories in between songs, which links the music to the culture and history here. Someone might say; ‘my grandmother loved this particular song’ and give an example, the musicians will then suggest something else that would’ve been a popular song in that area at that time. The next day, we will go for a morning swim and hike along the Famine trail. The retreat, as well as my Irish dancing, is all about learning about the people, history, and culture of Connemara.”