Ingrid Nachstern is the daughter of English-born Evelyn Graham and Ukrainian-born Polish violinist Arthur Nachstern (1911-1999), one-time leader of the National Symphony Orchestra. She grew up in Dublin and studied French and Italian at Trinity College and German at the Goethe institute. She also learnt ballet from the age of 3 under the instruction of Muriel Catt but gave it up at 17. She took up dancing again in her 30s, taking ballet classes with Richard Sugarman in Toronto and Joanna Banks in Dublin. In 1996, Nachstern completed the Royal Academy of Dance teacher training course, and a year later she opened her own ballet school in Sandymount, Dublin. Nachstern’s career as a choreographer began in 1999 following the death of her father, which was a devastating blow but also a source of new creative energy. Her choreographic work, which fuses classical ballet with contemporary dance, has found expression through the Night Star Dance Company, which she founded in 2003.
The National Ballet was formed in 1963 through the amalgamation of Joan Denise Moriarty's Irish Theatre Ballet and the National Ballet Company directed by Patricia Ryan. Moriarty and Ryan were appointed co-directors of the company, but the two women and their visions for ballet were radically different, and the company disbanded in 1964, shortly after its first season.
The National Ballet Company evolved as a professional body from the National Ballet School under the directorship of Patricia Ryan. In 1963, it fused with Joan Denise Moriarty's Irish Theatre Ballet to form the National Ballet.
The National Ballet School was set up in Dublin in 1954 by Blanaid and Eoin O’Brolchain and Cecil ffrench Salkeld. The school was located at 19 Ely Place, Dublin, and its first director was Valentina Dutko, a Russian ballet dancer and wife of an American diplomat Paul Dutko. Towards the end of 1955, Dutko moved to America and was replaced in 1956 by Patricia Ryan. In 1959, the company moved to new premises on Parnell Square. The standard of its students was exceptionally high, and by 1961 the school had evolved into a professional company named the National Ballet Company.
The National Council of Women of the United States was founded in 1888 by the social reformer and pioneering women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony to work for the advancement of of issues concerning women, including the right to vote. It is an affiliate of the International Council of Women (ICW).
Thomas G. (Tom) Nestor was born in 1936 in Coolcappa, Rathkeale, County Limerick as a farmer’s son and one of ten children. He was educated in St Flannan’s College, Ennis, in 1950-1954, and began his working career in 1955, first with Shannon Sales and Catering Service, and then with an American company in Ennis, where he lived from 1981 to 1990. Nestor later became self-employed and ran a training and consultancy programme for middle managers until his retirement in 2004. He married in 1964 and settled in Birr, County Offaly.
Nestor began his writing career in 1964 with two articles about rural Ireland, which were published in the Manchester Guardian. These were followed by Twilight in Suburbia, written for Donacha O’Dulaing for his radio programme A Munster Journal. The work was however rejected. His published works include three radio plays broadcast by BBC and RTÉ, some thirty short stories published in Scotland, USA and Australia, and three novels: The Keeper of Absalom’s Island (1999), The Blue Pool (2002) and Talking to Kate (2009). From 1964 to 1998 Nestor also contributed to The Limerick Leader with his column My Life and Times.
Thomas Nestor died on 22 December 2023 at the age of 87.
Thomas Noonan was born on 23 December 1891 and lived with his parents Michael and Catherine Noonan together with his four older sisters and two younger brothers at Ballyguy, Barrington’s Bridge, Limerick. Thomas was educated at Murroe National School and later spent three years as an apprentice at McBirney’s Drapery Emporium in Limerick city. He was engaged in clerical work until May 1914, when the prospect of better opportunities, together with the added spur of relatives already there, encouraged his emigration to Sydney, Australia. In September 1914, he enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force. Attached to the 13th Battalion, he spent periods of training in Australia and Egypt. In April 1915, Noonan was wounded in the landings at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula and was transferred to a military hospital in Cairo for treatment. In July, he was returned to front line duty in Gallipoli, where he was killed in action on 9 August 1915. He is buried at the 7th Field Ambulance Cemetery in Gallipoli.
Fearghus Ó Conchúir was born in the Gaeltacht region of Ring in County Waterford. He completed degrees in English and European Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford before training at the London Contemporary Dance School. He was the founder of Corp Deasa Contemporary Dance Company but later developed his career as an independent choreographer and dance artist. He has performed live and in film in Europe, North America, and China. In addition to his own work, Ó Conchúir has danced for other companies and collaborated with numerous dance and other artists. He has also taken an active role in the promotion and development of dance in Ireland and is a board member of Dance Ireland, Project Arts Centre, and Dance Digital. In January 2019, he was appointed Deputy Chair of the Arts Council. A more detailed overview of Ó Conchúir’s career and individual choreographies as well as recordings of his performances can be found at http://www.fearghus.net/.