23 Jul 2012
Joan Denise Moriarty Commemorative Exhibition 2012
Irish Times Article by Olivia Kelleher http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0221/1224312117413.html
The centenary of the birth of Joan Denise Moriarty, founder of the Irish National Ballet, is commemorated in an exhibition in the Firkin Crane, Cork. Born in Mallow, Co Cork, Moriarty also established the Cork Ballet Company and the Firkin Crane Dance Centre. She died in 1992 having spent 60 years working as a dancer and latterly a choreographer. The exhibition is being organised by the staff at Firkin Crane in Cork city in association with the Cork School of Dance. Newly discovered archive material is shown, and there is a programme of performances, demonstrations, workshops and classes.
The exhibition features rare photographic works and personal artefacts of Moriarty and the ballet company. The exhibition runs until the end of 2012. The creator of more than 100 works that drew on themes from Irish mythology and tradition, Moriarty also collaborated for 45 years with German-born composer Aloys Fleischmann. His Cork Symphony Orchestra played for the Cork Ballet Company’s annual ballet week from 1947 to 1993.
Many of Moriarty’s former dancers continue her legacy, in particular Alan Foley, artistic director and founder of Cork City Ballet. He was the first Irish dancer to study at the prestigious Kirov Ballet School in Leningrad in Russia, and at the School of American Ballet in New York.
Plus check out http://www.corkcitylibraries.ie/music/joandenisemoriarty/
