'Incredibly blessed': The 86-year-old dancer on the secret to a long career

Dancer Joanna Banks first stepped on stage in Northern Ireland in 1958 as a teenager with the Royal Ballet, now 86 years old she is back on the boards.

"I've had quite a long career, which is unusual for a dancer," she said. Adding that she is "incredibly blessed" to still be performing.

For Northern Irish dancer Clara Kerr, who is performing alongside her, the octogenarian is "so inspiring".

The two are in the cast of Luail dance company's Trojans, by acclaimed Irish choreographer Philip Connaughton.

The contemporary dance show is performed at the Island Arts Centre in Lisburn on Wednesday and Thursday.

Banks told BBC News NI that she could still vividly remember her first visit to Belfast to perform.

"I've had quite a long career, which is unusual for a dancer," she said.

"The first time I visited Belfast was, unbelievably, in 1958 with the touring company of the Royal Ballet for two weeks in the Grand Opera House.

"I was the baby of the Royal Ballet, I was 18 at the time, I'd just celebrated my eighteenth birthday."

Having danced with the Royal Ballet and then in Germany, she later moved to Cork in the 1970s to dance with the Irish National Ballet Company and never left Ireland.

Kerr, from Holywood is, by contrast, in her 20s and is performing alongside Joanna in Trojans.

"It's so inspiring, Joanna's incredible," she said.

"She's so incredibly professional and she brings so much to us.

"We've found it such a lovely experience to collaborate with her.

"We have lovely chats in the dressing room about all her other tours that she's done."

Luail is an all-Ireland professional dance company and Trojans is an up-to-date retelling of The Aeneid, complete with electronic music and striking visuals.

"Philip believes that history repeats itself and all those old myths and tales, I mean humanity keeps making mistakes and keeps rolling along," Banks said.

"It's very relevant for today, it's actually about war, migration, displacement.

"That sounds very grim but in actual fact it's quite an uplifting piece."

Luail has brought the performance to Lisburn after shows in Dublin and Galway.

For Kerr, who began Irish dancing when she was only three years old, it has been a "long journey" to become a professional dancer.

"When I was about 17 I realised I wanted to dance full-time and that's when I started to delve into contemporary and ballet and other different styles," she said.

After school in Belfast, she trained and studied for four years at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) before graduating in 2019.

"If you really want to do it, I always encourage people to go for it," Kerr said.

"If you really love and you're very passionate about it, I always say give it a go.

"In Northern Ireland, the dance community is small but very mighty.

"But it is hard work, obviously we work very hard and physically it's very intense.

"But we're very lucky to dance every day, that's kind of the dream."

And it is a dream Joanna Banks has been living for almost 70 years.

So what is the secret to dancing professionally at 86?

"Just an obstinate love of being on stage and performing," Banks answered.

"If I'm invited to do something, however new and different, my philosophy is I'll say 'why not? go for it.'

"You have to be slightly mad and completely dedicated to doing this.

"I've just been incredibly blessed."