Overheard whining when I was nine years of age, I said to my sister: “My life would be fine if it wasn’t for ballet.”
I’m not sure what sort of lifestyle a middle class kid in Cork enjoyed more than 50 years ago but I was more interested in climbing trees than being instructed in the graceful art of ballet dancing by the formidable Joan Denise Moriarty.
She founded the amateur Cork Ballet Company in 1947 and the Irish Ballet Company which was later renamed as the Irish National Ballet.
It was Ireland’s only full-time professional ballet company for much of its existence until its closure in 1989 due to losing its Arts Council funding.
Today, a former pupil of Moriarty, Alan Foley, is the artistic director of Cork City Ballet and maintains his mentor’s tradition of hosting Ballet Week in
Continue Reading on The Irish Times
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.