Donlon is known for her humour and profound creativity, her work thrills an unusually broad audience. With stylistic innovation, Irish wit and the combination of different art forms, she has pushed artistic limits to secure a place in the international dance scene. As a dancer, Donlon has had the great honour to work with dance legends such as Natalia Makarova, Rudolf Nureyev and Sir Kenneth MacMillan. She, however, found her place working with and dancing the repertoire of the more influential contemporary choreographers, including William Forsythe, Maurice Béjart, Meg Stuart, Bill T. Jones and Jiří Kylián.   As a Ballet Director to 3 different dance companies, she managed to form a company of unique and excellent dancers, impressing a diverse audience. They quickly became a respected and sought-after ensemble invited to perform throughout Europe, the USA and Asia. As a choreographer, she has created over a 100 works, many of which have been critically acclaimed worldwide.   The Yearbook “Dance” paid several tributes to her and the company over the years announcing them as “Best Company of the Year”, “Best Production”, “Best Dancer”, or “Most important work for the arts”. “Giselle-Reloaded” was nominated for the “Prix Benois de la Danse” with its mixture of contemporary dance and Irish traditional dance which has become a strong motif in her work. “Romeo und Julia” was nominated for the German Theatre Prize “Die Faust”. Donlon’s most recent work “Orlando” for Oper Graz in Austria performed to 11,000 spectators and was voted “Favourite Ballet in 2023” by the Austrian press.   In addition to her own companies she has created for other companies such as the Nederlands Dans Theater 2 (NDT), the Stuttgart Ballet, Komische Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hubbard Street Dance Company in Chicago, Rambert Dance in London, the Companhia Nacional de Bailado (CNB) Portugal, Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz Munich, Musiktheater im Revier (MiR) Gelsenkirchen, Visceral Dance Chicago, Svetlana Zacharova and the Bolshoi Ballet and The One Grand Show, Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin.   Most recently she has created for BalletX Philadelphia, USA, Ballet Ireland, Theater Basel, Switzerland, Poznań Opera Ballet, Poland, Staatsballet Karlsruhe, Germany and Ballett Graz Austria.   “BalletX manages to create an environment which supports the entire creative process from beginning to the end. They value and support the dancers, the creator and the team and of course the audience. I truly look forward to  returning to BalletX to create something unique and special.”

Matthew’s choreography has been featured and performed by The New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Ballet West, Ballet Met, Colorado Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Milwaukee Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Tulsa Ballet, OKC Ballet, Kansas City Ballet , BODYTRAFFIC, Juilliard Dance, USC Kaufman School of Dance, among many others. He has received numerous awards and grants for his choreography from the National Endowment of the Arts, Dance Advance funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Choo San Goh Foundation, and the Independence Foundation. In 2006, Matthew received the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute’s Fellowship Initiative Award.  In 2008, he received a fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. This marks his fourth time receiving the PCA fellowship. He was also the first recipient of the Jerome Robbins NEW Program Fellowship for his work At the border for Pennsylvania Ballet. In June 2019, he directed the Contemporary Ballet Program at Jacob’s Pillow. In 2005, Matthew co-founded BalletX with fellow dancer Christine Cox. BalletX had its world premiere at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival in September 2005 and is now the resident dance company at the prestigious Wilma Theatre. BalletX has toured and performed Neenan’s choreography in New York City at The Joyce Theater, NY City Center, The Skirball Center, Symphony Space and Central Park Summerstage, Vail International Dance Festival (where he has had 5 world premieres), Jacob’s Pillow Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Cerritos Center, Laguna Dance Festival, Spring to Dance Festival in St.Louis, and internationally in Cali, Colombia, Seoul, Korea and Belgrade, Serbia. His ballet The Last Glass was the New York Times top 10 in 2013.