Download Dancing with Irish Theatre Ballet by Maureen Weldon

D ANCING WITH I RISH T HEATRE B ALLET
B Y M AUREEN W ELDON
When I was ten I suffered from a weak back and flat feet. Our doctor in Cork advised my
mother to take me to a dancing teacher called Miss Joan Denise Moriarty, who he thought
might cure my disabilities; otherwise I was to be sent to hospital. I well remember mounting
the stairs to the studio in Patrick's Street with my mother: we were met by a beautiful tall
red-haired lady. I must have looked everything that was wrong: I was small and skinny, as
well as having my weak back and bad feet. Miss Moriarty gave me special exercises. It was
hard, and for most of the time I was in considerable pain, but the exercises and
determination were to pay off, and I vowed I would dance for the rest of my life. That was
1950.
My dancing class for that first year was one hour a week, and when it was finished Miss
Moriarty allowed me to stay on to watch the ‘big girls’ (and boys). In between classes she
brought me into the private room where she lived for a drink and a biscuit if she had one. I
was a chatter-box, but I knew she was very fond of me, and during this time she taught me
that there is no such word as ‘can't’. At one stage Miss Moriarty was given a kitten.
Whenever she went away on ballet business or on holiday, I was entrusted with the keys of
the studio to feed and look after Tinky.
When I was fifteen my father was made redundant, and money became very scarce for
our family. My dread was that there would not be enough to send me to ballet classes. I was
having two a week; my back had greatly improved and I no longer had flat feet. Miss
Moriarty allowed me to attend her classes completely free of fees: all she asked of me was
to work hard. My ballet shoes, tights, the green tunic were to become Christmas, birthday
and Easter presents from family and friends, as were the costumes for the ballet productions
I danced in.
When Giselle was staged by the Cork Ballet Company in 1957 with Domini Callaghan
(the perfect Giselle), I helped backstage. As a thank-you present, Miss Moriarty gave me a
pair of red china ballet shoes, which I have always treasured. The following year I was ‘in
it’: I was given a part in The Sleeping Princess; in 1959 I danced in Les Sylphides, and
when the professional company Irish Theatre Ballet was founded that year, I was chosen as
one of the twelve dancers. I will never forget our debut gala performance at the Palace
Theatre Cork just before Christmas 1959. Among the audience was Dame Marie Rambert,
who stood up at the end of the performance, after the rapturous applause had died down, and
in a loud deep voice called out: ‘Long live Irish Theatre Ballet.’ It was a magic night. Dame
Marie and Alicia Markova were patrons of our Company.
Our first tour was Clonmel Co. Tipperary, New Year 1960. With Miss Moriarty we were
invited to a champagne reception at the Lord Mayor's chambers, where we were given ‘the
freedom of the town’. This was something unforgettable for us young dancers. Then our
work really began: we travelled to perform throughout the thirty-two counties of Ireland.
We danced in Waterford, Limerick, Cobh, Skibbereen, Tralee, Wexford, Sligo, Dundalk; in
Dublin we danced in the famous Gate Theatre, in Belfast in the Lyric Theatre, and from that
base we toured the six northern counties.
We were trained by a series of wonderful people. Our first ballet master came from the
Anna Pavlova Company. When Stanley Judson retired, Miss Moriarty engaged Yannis
Metsis from Athens, who had been a soloist with the Ballet Rambert. He choreographed a
ballet called Narcissus based on the Greek myth to music by Debussy, played splendidly on
the piano by Charles Lynch. Our third ballet master, Geoffrey Davidson, produced
Carneval, a ballet of great beauty to Robert Schumann's music. Around 1962 the artistic and
cultural range of Irish Theatre Ballet was further broadened when a young Israeli dancer
was recruited. Domy Reiter-Soffer was one of our principal male dancers and it was in Cork
that he choreographed his first ballet, Moods, a Jazz ballet. This was something very new to
us, and greatly enjoyed by the audience.
Miss Moriarty held the reins in every sense of the word, we knew that nothing escaped
her notice. She was the inspiration of ‘the Dance’. Often a hard taskmaster, yet our friend
and mentor, she brought the beauty of ballet to the highest standard we could reach and took
it to people throughout Ireland.
Due to the loving kindness of a very great lady, one small child of ten who could have
been deformed for the rest of her life realised her dream and became a professional dancer.