Showing 308 results

Terence Aloysious 'Terry' Bowler was born in London on 21 June 1928. His mother was from Dublin and his father from Dingle, Co. Kerry. The family was very musical and had their own Irish band, which during the war played in all the Irish Halls in London. Terry became interested in Irish dancing at the age of 11, when he began to take lessons from Maura Sheehan. In the early 1940s he joined Charlie Smith’s School of Irish Dancing in London and became one of its best dancers, coming second in the All England Championships in the late 1940s. He was also interested in teaching and in 1948 opened his first class in St. Monica’s Hall in Hoxton, East London.

Nancy Brown was born in Mallow on 6 November 1932, but grew up in Cork city. At the age of 4, she joined Joan Denise Moriarty’s ballet classes in Mallow but within a few months abandoned ballet and took up Irish dancing. Between the ages of 4 and 8 she was taught by Kevin O’Connell, Peggy McTaggart and finally by Cormac O’Keeffe, with whom she remained until the age of 18. She was the winner of the Junior Champion¬ships two years in succession at Feis Matiu. She also won the Munster championship in the 1940s and came second in the Thomond Belt in Limerick in 1949. In 1952, she moved to London for treatment for a medical condition, While waiting for corrective surgery, she joined Charlie Smith’s School of Irish Dancing in London, initially as a dancer and soon after as a teacher.

Nancy Brown met Terry Bowler in Chelsea at an Irish dancing event in 1952, and the couple married in 1956. They began teaching together in the Bowler School of Dancing in London in 1953, and in that same year were invited to do a tour in Lower Austria. In 1967, Terry and Nancy became the first married couple ever to achieve the A.D.C.R.G. examination at the same time. They both taught Irish dancing for the Inner London Education Authority from 1955 to 1990, and other classes until 1995. For many years, they also taught Irish dancing to the pupils of the Royal Ballet School. As teachers, the couple’s roles were very clear cut, Terry creating choreographies and Nancy polishing the acts. Their dance teams won numerous competitions, including the Figure Dance World Championships in the 1970s. In addition to his love of dancing, Terry Bowler was an accomplished graphic artist and columnist.

The Bolshoi Ballet is one of the world's oldest and most renowned classical ballet companies. It is based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia, which gave the company its name.

David Bolger is an Irish dancer, choreographer and founder of the dance company CoisCéim.

Dr Olive Beecher is a professional dancer and dance academic. She trained at the Nikolais/ Louis Dance School in New York under Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis and studied improvisation and somatics under Sara Pearson. On returning to Ireland, Beecher worked as a dance lecturer at Thomond College, University of Limerick and became a founder member of Daghdha Dance Company under the artistic direction of Mary Nunan. Beecher devised, choreographed, and performed contemporary dance works for and with the Company for four years between 1988 and 1992.

Beecher left Daghdha Dance Company to develop her own work and continued to study under internationally renowned teachers including Jill Clarke, Laurie Booth, Motion House, teachers from Hawkins, and Merdith Monk Company. Olive performed in New York, the UK, and in theatres throughout Ireland. She also became a dance academic, completing an MA in Ethnochoreology in 1998 and a PhD in therapeutic applications of modern dance in 2005 at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.

Beecher is first and foremost a dance artist. Between 1987 and 2016 she has created more than 25 original dance/performance works and continues to practice as an artist. Her work is influenced by the experimental movement of the 1960s and 1970s in Europe and America. She is also interested in German expressionism, eastern and post-modern approaches to movement and performance, and pedestrian movement. Most of her creative ideas stem from her own life experiences.

Beecher’s academic interests include topics such as improvisation; creativity, theory, and practice; phenomenology; somatics and fundamentals of contemporary dance movement; arts, health, and well-being; integrated dance and special education; dance education and Rudolf Laban; ritual; and post-modernism. She has been a regular contributor to the Irish World Academy Seminar Series from 1999 to 2015 and has worked as a dance tutor at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick since 2006. She also delivers the dance education and world dance modules each year at University College Cork, which she wrote for their Physical Education and Sports Science degree programme in 2007. She also works in special education. The integration of theory and practice is a key feature of her teaching and lecturing style.

The Sandville branch of the Barry family is descended from David Barry, who received a grant of land in county Limerick having saved the life of an Englishman during the 1641-42 war. Originally called Fryarstown, the name of the estate had been changed to Sandville by the time of the marriage of John Barry in 1804 to Mary O’Shaughnessy. Their eldest son, James, established himself at Bellevue, Croom, county Limerick, while the Sandville property passed to the third son, John. Following the latter’s death without issue in 1860, both properties passed to James Grene Barry (1841-1929), James’s eldest son.

The Leamlara branch of the family is often referred to as Standish Barry to distinguish it from the other Barry families in the area. The Leamlara estate near Carrigtwohill, county Cork, was granted to the Barrys at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. A castle built on the property in the fourteenth century was utilised in the mid eighteenth century for the construction of Leamlara House. It remained the family seat until the death of Henry Standish Barry in 1945, when his two surviving daughters sold the property to the Irish Land Commission. Leamlara was the birthplace of Garrett Standish Barry, the first Catholic Member of the Parliament to be elected after the 1829 Emancipation Act.

Winifred Frances Barrington was born in London on 5 July 1897 as the eldest child and only daughter of Sir Charles Burton Barrington, 5th Baronet, of Glenstal Castle, county Limerick and Mary Rose née Bacon. She served as a nurse during the First World War and was a universal favourite with those who knew her. She struck up a friendship with District Inspector (Major) Henry Biggs, one of the most notorious and hated Black-and-Tan officers. On 14 May 1921, the couple were travelling in a car in Coolboreen, county Tipperary when their vehicle was ambushed by the IRA and Winifred was mistakenly shot and mortally wounded. She died later the same day at home, while Biggs died at the site of the ambush.

Robert Rennie Ballingal was born on 9 June 1867 at Killarrow, Argyllshire in Scotland. In 1894, he was appointed land agent to the 4th Earl of Dunraven at Adare Manor, county Limerick, which role he retained for 27 years until his retirement in 1921. One of his duties included the supervision of the works at the tobacco factory established in Adare by the 4th Earl of Dunraven in 1908. A keen sportsman, Ballingal was secretary of the Adare Manor Golf Club and an active member of the Limerick Lawn Tennis Club and the Irish Coursing Club. He was also co-director of Killoran Slate Quarries in county Tipperary and a board member of the Limerick Fishery Conservators. Following his retirement he returned to Argyllshire, where he died on 27 July 1928.

Ballet Ireland was established by Gunther Falusi and Anne Maher in 1998 to create ballet and contemporary dance performances.