Cork City Ballet makes great leaps forward

Cork City Ballet has come a long way since its foundation, as evidenced by the fact that international stars are willing to accept invitations to perform here.

Credit for this must most certainly go to founder and director Alan Foley, who started his own training at Joan Denise Moriarty’s ballet school in teenage days and later studied at the Harrison School in London and the Balanchine in New York before returning to JDM as both principal dancer and teacher.

He was also the first Irish male dancer to train at the legendary Kirov Ballet Summer School. “I never thought they’d accept me, but they did, and it was an experience I’ll never forget,” he says. “There were dancers there from all over the world, and we worked day and night. I was emaciated when I came back.”