Ester O'Brolchain was born in Dublin. She studied ballet with Valentina Dutko and later with Patricia Ryan at her National Ballet School. In her early teens she moved to Tunbridge Wells to train at the renowned Legat School. She returned to Dublin to perform with the National Ballet Company. Following a knee injury in 1962, which halted her dancing career, she moved to Italy to study opera production at the Rome Opera House. She later opened her own ballet school in Italy. In 1996, she returned to Dublin and became assistant artistic director at the College of Dance, teaching ballet and dance history. She returned to Italy in 2010.
Cornelius O'Callaghan (1740/41-1797) was an MP for Fethard between 1761 and 1785. In 1774 he married Frances Ponsonby. In 1785, he was created 1st Baron Lismore of Shanbally, county Tipperary. His eldest son, Cornelius O'Callaghan (1775-1857) was appointed Privy Counsellor of Ireland in 1835 and also held the office of Lord Lieutenant of county Tipperary from 1851 to 1857. He was created Viscount Lismore of Shanbally in 1806. Two year later, he married Lady Eleanor Butler, daughter of John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde. He was succeeded by his only surviving son, George Ponsonby O'Callaghan (1815-1898), as 2nd Viscount Lismore. The title became extinct upon the 2nd Viscount's death, his two sons having predeceased him. The family seat, Shanbally Castle, passed to his cousins, Constance and Beatrice Butler, daughters of the 3rd Marquess of Ormonde.
For a full biography of Eugene O'Curry, please refer to the Dictionary of Irish Biography, https://www.dib.ie/biography/ocurry-curry-o-comhrai-eugene-eoghan-a6664.
The Odell family were Cromwellian settlers and have been associated with county Limerick since the mid-seventeenth century. In the 1770s, John Fitzcharles Odell built a house, Odellville, in the parish of Ballingarry. The property passed to the Morony family through the marriage of Helen Mary Odell to Edmund Morony in 1860.
Liv O’Donoghue trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in the UK, graduating in 2007 with the Outstanding Achievement Award. She then joined the school’s graduate company, Verve, touring and performing internationally while also completing her Graduate Diploma in Performance. Since then, she has worked and toured extensively with distinguished dance companies and choreographers, including Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Rex Levitates Dance Company (later renamed Liz Roche Company), and with other artists, including composers Christian Mason and Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, and photographers Elena Galotta and Luca Truffarelli.
In addition to her collaboration with other artists, Liv O’Donoghue has developed her own choreographic practice. Her work has been shown at dance festivals in Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the USA. In 2011, she was Artist-in-Residence at the Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo. In 2012-2013, she undertook dance residencies at various European dance houses, including TanzQuarter in Vienna, as a Carte Blanche Artist for the multi-annual cooperation project Modul Dance. In 2012, she was also selected as an artist for the European dance project Act Your Age, in which choreographers research and create new work inspired and performed by senior individuals to tackle the issue of age and ageing. Her widely acclaimed work is supported by the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, and Dance Ireland.
For a full biography of John O'Donovan, please refer to the Dictionary of Irish Biography, https://www.dib.ie/biography/odonovan-o-donnabhain-john-sean-a6718.