Teacher, choreographer, founder of the National Ballet Company Dublin, Patricia Ryan
A memoire by Geraldine Morris
Wings View rehearsal with Geraldine Morris and Ben Stevenson National Ballet Image ©Jas. D.O’Callaghan
Ireland in the 1950s was in the grip of Catholicism and a very conservative, introverted Nationalism. It was in the words of Charles Dickens ‘the worst of times…it was the age of foolishness…it was the winter of despair’.
‘Emotional destitution and humiliation were rife in post-war Ireland alongside a near obsession with public devotion to Marinaism within the ranks of the Catholic Church’.
Only 2.5 per cent of married women were employed and the ultimate taboo was the unmarried mother; vilified and reviled, unmarried mothers were hidden away in brutal reform centres. Yet, despite the bleakness of 1950s Ireland, theatre flourished and most importantly, visits from English, American, Danish, French and Spanish dance companies were a frequent occurrence.
It was against this background that Irish ballet once more blossomed. My first experience of ballet was in a ballroom above the Stella cinema in Rathmines. The beautiful and elegant Madge Larney taught us but after three years of RAD training, which I found intensely boring, I transferred to the Irish National ballet school. The progeny of a group determined to bring Russian ballet to Dublin, the school was established in 1953 by Cecil Ffrench-Salkeld, Blanaid O’ Brolchain and Valentina Dutko.
I entered the ‘babies’ class but soon was invited to attend Dutko’s lessons. From then on, I was hooked; no career other than ballet was possible. Dutko left for the USA in late1955 and we were teacher-less. Despite this our small group of Dutko girls turned up every day to practice alone, watched over by Blanaid O’Brolchain. This continued for at least nine months when, via Madame Legat, a saviour arrived in the form of Patricia Ryan.
I can’t remember when she first took us for class but I can remember her elegance, beauty and formidable teaching powers. She was dark haired, tall, slim and beautifully dressed. We envied the beautiful shoes she wore and when I first had a pair of high-heel shoes, little did she know they were modelled on hers!
We were a motley group of youngsters; none chosen for bodily suitability but all passionately devoted to dance and particularly ballet. Ranging in age from ten to fifteen, we had mixed ability. My sorrows knew no bounds when Patricia decided that we should lay aside our much cherished pointe shoes and wait a little longer until our feet were strong enough to wear them; it probably saved my feet and ankles. But I was allowed to wear my precious shoes when I became the central dancer in a trio, comprising myself, Adavine O Driscoll and Ciara O Sullivan. The Polka was a dance choreographed by Patricia and performed in our first ballet show, coming about nine months after her arrival. It was staged in the Dagg Hall in Westland Row in July 1957 and the performance heralded our first tentative steps on the road to stardom.
Patricia’s own dance experience was impressive; with a background in Cecchetti and Legat, she taught an amalgam of styles. She was too a hugely inspiring teacher and we worked hard for over two hours on most days, from 4pm or 5.30 till late. Coming straight from school by bus, the days were totally devoted to dance and school work. But we loved it. Her classes were strengthening, with an emphasis on dance’s qualitative aspects. When I went to the Legat School in Tunbridge Wells for a term in 1959, I was well ahead of my year group (in ballet). Equally, joining the Royal Ballet School in 1963, I went straight into a special class Extra 3, arranged for those thought to be the most talented that year. This was entirely due to Patricia. She had given me confidence and a sound technique and, through her choreography, a real understanding of performance. Coming from Ireland, I never felt at a disadvantage either at the RBS or Legat.
Geraldine Morris in class Parnell square 1950’s
Patricia loved and had a great talent for choreography.
Very quickly after starting teaching, she plunged straight into planning our first dance performance. I don’t recall much about it but after the Polka, we did the SnowQueen, in which I was a Spring flower awakening from a long and icy winter. I remember uncurling from a crouched position, performing exotic hand movements but, sadly, little else comes to mind. Several times she arranged dances to the Walspurgisnacht music from Faust by Charles Gounod (1818-1891). I performed various roles in three different versions. Initially, together with Ester O Brolchain and Gay Brophy, I danced as one of the three Graces. Then for a performance with the Dublin Grand Opera Society, I was the Temptress, a rather innocuous one at sixteen, and finally she choreographed the pas de trois for a concert at the Gaiety theatre in Dublin. This last was something of a disaster! The performance was to a recording and the record was played at the wrong speed, about twice as fast. But because I was dancing with two men, neither was in place to partner my turns and lifts. I was devastated but Patricia was sanguine and few in the audience noticed!
Her two major pieces were Careless Love (1960) and Gamble No Gamble (1961) both to the music of A.J. Potter (1918-1980). I had a minor role in the first because I was taking my Leaving Certificate and spending too much time dancing was not a possibility! The following year came Gamble no Gamble to a poem by the Monaghan born poet Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967). Unusually yet innovatively, the leading role of Gambler was split between an actor T.P. McKenna and a dancer, Charles Schuller; McKenna spoke the poem and Schuller danced the choreography. The three leading females were Red (Gay Brophy) Black (Ciara O Sullivan) and White (Judith McGilligan). Patricia’s then husband John Ryan did the décor and costumes. Together with Ester, I was one of two predators in the Black Scene, chosen for our ability to perform slow adagio movements.
The last piece she choreographed for me was a starring role in the ballet for La Gioconda (Ponchielli [1834-1886). It was for the opera season in Wexford in 1963. Already a student at the Royal Ballet School, I was given permission to perform by Ninette de Valois, who was then my teacher. We must have worked very quickly as I was only given two weeks leave! My partner was the young but highly competent Israeli dancer Domi Reiter-Soffer.
Geraldine Morris with Michael Beare in the Florestan pas de trois Sleeping Beauty. GBL Wilson
Among Patricia’s greatest achievements was her mounting of traditional repertory.
With principal dancers from the Royal Ballet, Annette Page and Ronald Hynd, we performed Giselle and Swan Lake Act II. She also engaged two Australian dancers, Marilyn Jones and Garth Welch, later to become principal dancers of the Australian National Ballet. I danced the Peasant pas de deux with Welch in Giselle! It was very exciting and a huge opportunity to work with such a renowned dancer who later partnered Natalia Makarova. Rehearsed by Meriel Evans, also on loan from the Royal Ballet, I was encouraged to work harder than I had ever worked but it was an honour to be helped by someone as highly regarded as Evans. Evans also choreographed a ballet for us to Benjamin Britten’s Soirées Musicales, a romping piece for three groups of dancers, each with a lead soloist; I think all female.
Curtain call Wings view Olympia theatre 1962 Conductor Kenneth Alwyn Lead dancers Geraldine Morris and Ben Stevenson ©Jas. D.O’Callaghan
To have successfully mounted these two traditional works was a highly significant achievement, not only was it unrecognised by the Irish Government but this stupendous feat was also misunderstood by the Irish Press.
They commented on it but were relatively lukewarm in their notices. Ninette de Valois had generously lent the swan tutus for Swan Lake and also gave the dancers and choreographer Alan Beale, free of charge. I remember these performances with great affection and later when I eventually joined the Royal Ballet in 1964, a background in all these roles proved immensely valuable.
The other work for that season was Wings View with choreography by Alan Beale, who later became Assistant Director for John Cranko of Stuttgart Ballet fame. I was given a chance to star and my partner was Ben Stevenson now emeritus Director of Huston Ballet.
I can remember little of Beale’s work but it was a comic piece that included brief parodies of de Valois’s choreography. Leon Arnold from the Royal Opera House was our stage manager and Kenneth Alwen our conductor. What a privilege it was to have been part of these performances and to have had the chance to work with such an illustrious group. What I remember most about Patricia was her generosity in helping us to reach our goals. At least seven of us became professional dancers, something we would never have achieved without the care she lavished on our technique and performance skills. So much more could be written about this talented woman who has never been fully acclaimed in Ireland. Even if she didn’t achieve her aim to form an Irish ballet company, she produced professional dancers out of a very mixed bunch of youngsters. She really did turn frogs into princesses.