The Cork Ballet Company (1947–1993) Moriarty founded the Cork Ballet Group in 1947, the members recruited from her school. It gave its first performance in June of that year in the
Cork Opera House, accompanied by the Cork Symphony Orchestra under its conductor Aloys Fleischmann. Stage scenery was designed by Marshall Hutson, Frank Sanquest and later by Patrick Murray; costume designs were provided by Clare Hutson, Maeve Coakley, Rachel Russell, who also made many of the costumes. Alec Day and Leslie Horne took charge of the lighting. From 1948 the group gave an annual week of ballet, also bringing its show to towns in
Munster. In 1951 part of the classical ballet
Coppélia was performed (the complete work in 1955),
Giselle in 1957. In 1954 the group was registered as a company under the name "Cork Ballet Company". Its patrons were Dame
Marie Rambert, Dame
Alicia Markova and later Dame
Ninette de Valois. For the first ten years, Moriarty danced in many of the ballets. From 1956 the Company performed with international guest artists – among them, at a special ballet recital of 1965, Sir
Anton Dolin. From 1970 to 1973 it had very successful appearances in
Dublin, in 1971–73 performing with the Cork Symphony Orchestra for a week at the
Gaiety Theatre to packed houses. In 1992 the Ballet Week was given in tribute to its founder, who had died in January of that year; the President of Ireland,
Mary Robinson, attended the opening. The following year saw the last of the company's 46 seasons.
The Folk Dance Group of the Cork Ballet Company Moriarty founded this group in 1957. It participated in the Cork
An Tóstal Festival for many years, travelled in 1958 to the Youth Festival of Wewelsburg (near
Paderborn, Germany) and in 1961 to the
Dijon International Folk Dance Festival in France. As a prize-winner, it was invited back to Dijon in 1965. In 1966 the group travelled to
Berlin and participated successfully in the Deidesheim and Dillenburg Folk Dance Festivals. In 1966 and 1967 the group, together with the Cork Ballet Company, was commissioned by
RTÉ, the state broadcasting service, to give 13 television programmes of Irish dance called "An Damhsa" (the dance), choreographed by Moriarty, costumes by Clare Hutson.
Irish Theatre Ballet (1959–64) Irish Theatre Ballet was the first professional ballet company of Ireland, and the first touring ballet company, founded by Moriarty in the summer of 1959 for the purpose of bringing ballet to the four provinces of the country, which it did for four years despite inadequate funding. It gave its first performance in December 1959 in the presence of its patron, Marie Rambert. It was a small company of 10 to 12 dancers, which travelled all over Ireland, north and south, going to some 70 venues annually with extracts from classical ballets, contemporary works and folk ballets. Its first ballet master was Stanley Judson of the
Anna Pavlova Company; then came Yannis Metsis of
Ballet Rambert, then Denis Carey of Guatemalan State Ballet and finally Geoffrey Davidson of
Festival Ballet.
Charles Lynch was the company's pianist. Marshall Hutson and his wife, Clare, produced stage designs and costumes for many of the shows. 24 new ballets were created for the company; new music was commissioned for five of these, among them two folk ballets for which
Seán Ó Riada provided scenarios and music, the latter performed by his
Ceoltóirí Chualann. Irish Theatre Ballet received a small grant from the
Arts Council of Ireland, and aid from the
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, but depended mainly on funding from business and private patrons. In an attempt to resolve the constant financial difficulties, the Arts Council in 1963 insisted on a merger with Patricia Ryan's Dublin National Ballet. But the amalgamation did not bring a solution to the financial problems besetting both companies, and after one joint season in Dublin in the late autumn of 1963 and in Cork the following January, the amalgamated company, Irish National Ballet, had to be disbanded in March 1964.
Previous ballet schools and companies in Ireland The Abbey Theatre School of Ballet had been run by Ninette de Valois with the support of W.B. Yeats from 1927 to 1933, and was not just a school but a performing company, with de Valois herself often dancing in its productions. A later Abbey School of Ballet was founded by two of its dancers, and continued with performances into the 1950s (but was primarily a school). Two more projects were launched by students of de Valois. First, in 1936, Sara Payne launched her Ballet School and Company, which performed eight ballets between then and 1942. Then in 1939
Cepta Cullen launched the Irish Ballet Club, which performed 14 ballets up to 1944. Patricia Ryan took over the National Ballet School in 1956 from Valentina Dutko, and incorporated her National Ballet Company in 1962.
Irish Ballet Company/Irish National Ballet (1973–1989) In 1973, given the successes of Moriarty's amateur Cork Ballet Company in Cork and Dublin, her plan to form a professional ballet company was accepted by the government. The
Irish Ballet Company received a government grant at first and was subsequently financed by the Arts Council. Ninette de Valois was patron. She attended the first Dublin performance unannounced and donated half the Dutch
Erasmus Prize, which she had just received, so that Moriarty could bring in distinguished teachers for special courses. Like Irish Theatre Ballet, Moriarty's first professional company, it was a touring company, which travelled all over Ireland in two annual seasons. David Gordon of the
Royal Ballet was the ballet master, Muriel Large was the administrator. Conditions were difficult for the dancers: salaries were small, as was the grant with which the company had to make do; the buildings that had to be used for training and rehearsal were far from ideal; performance facilities in the provincial centres were often dire. On the other hand, the dancers performed in a greater variety of roles than they would have done in a bigger company; they worked closely with many international choreographers and were encouraged to choreograph themselves. In 1975, for instance, Sir
Anton Dolin, Toni Beck and
John Gilpin came to Cork to produce some of their works with the company. The Israeli choreographer, Domy Reiter-Soffer, who had been a member of Irish Theatre Ballet, became the company's artistic advisor and created many new works of great range in theme and type. The company had a number of striking successes between 1978 and 1981. Moriarty's ballet, based on
Synge's
The Playboy of the Western World, was commissioned for the Dublin Theatre Festival of 1978, with music played live by
The Chieftains, was acclaimed. It went from Dublin to Cork to Belfast, to New York, to
Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, and to
Rennes in France. In 1981, the Dublin Theatre Festival commissioned Moriarty again; she created a 3-act ballet based on the old Irish epic
The Táin; Fleischmann composed the music, and Patrick Murray designed the sets. On the strength of these achievements, the government agreed in 1983 to the company changing its name to Irish National Ballet.
Cutbacks The 1980s was a period of severe recession in Ireland. The Arts Council's budget was reduced amid increasing demands for the shrinking funds. In 1982 the Council ceased funding the
Gate Theatre, the Dublin Theatre Festival and the Irish Theatre Company, the country's touring theatre company, continuing to support only the iconic
Abbey Theatre. The Council allotted a mere 7.6% of its budget to dance, and a large portion of that went to Irish National Ballet, though the grant was not substantial enough to keep the company out of debt. Contemporary dance groups and other dance organisations sought change in the distribution of the funds. In 1985 the Council commissioned the distinguished dance expert
Peter Brinson to report on dance in Ireland. The report proposed a sharp reduction of the already inadequate budget of the Irish National Ballet, while requiring it to incur greater expenses through increased touring and procuring the funds needed from corporate sources. It was critical of Moriarty, who resigned in the autumn of 1985. Moriarty was succeeded by the Finnish dancer and choreographer, Anneli Vourenjuuri-Robinson, who sought to implement a three-year plan accepted by the Arts Council. But in 1988 the Council decided to withdraw its grant before the end of the three-year period, and also terminated funding for Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre. The Office of the Taoiseach thereupon gave Irish National Ballet a special grant for a year. Domy Reiter-Soffer and Patrick Murray directed the company during that time. The Arts Council did not reconsider its decision and the company's last ballet was Reiter-Soffer's
Oscar based on the life of
Oscar Wilde, set to music by Sir
Arnold Bax, performed in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. In 1989 Irish National Ballet had to be disbanded.
A Home for National Irish Ballet From 1973, appropriate accommodation was needed for the professional ballet company, which was operating in unsuitable premises. The
Firkin Crane, the former centre of Cork's international butter trade, was put up for sale in 1979. Moriarty applied successfully to the Arts Council to have it bought for the Irish Ballet Company. A Trust Fund was set up to secure the finance for the rebuilding with former Taoiseach
Jack Lynch as president.
Cork City Council supported the undertaking; funding was also obtained from the Irish government, the
European Union, Irish businesses and the American
Ireland Fund. Planning started in 1982, and building in 1985. When Irish National Ballet closed in 1989, the Firkin Crane was designated to become the Dance Centre of the city. It opened in April 1992, three months after Moriarty's death. ==Artistic achievement==