MARY MOROSINI-WHELAN:DANCING SCHOOL teacher Mary Morosini-Whelan has died aged 88. She taught generations of Dubliners to dance, charging per class rather than for a full course, so there was broad access to classes at the school that bore her name.
Famous former pupils included the late president Patrick Hillery and current presidential hopeful Senator David Norris.
Mary Morosini-Whelan was born in 1923 to Violetta Morosini and Joseph Whelan. Although Violetta had been born in Verona, Italy, the family were already settled in Dublin as Mary’s great-grandparents, George and Clotilde Morosini, had arrived in Ireland from Italy in the mid 19th century, following a brief stay in England.
George Whelan was a portrait painter who exhibited in the Royal Hibernian Academy of 1861 (one of his works currently hangs in the College of Physicians in Kildare Street, Dublin), while his wife, Clotilde Parigiani, was a celebrated contralto and cousin to pope Pius IX.
Violetta Morosini-Whelan trained as a concert pianist and acted as musical director in many of the silent picture houses of the day. Joseph Whelan had a small dancing studio in Harcourt Street. They conjoined names and talents, moved to adjacent larger premises and so the Morosini-Whelan School of Ballroom Dancing was established in 1912.
Mary was the youngest of five children, (although her brother Raymond died aged five) and she grew up in a house on Henry Street, Dublin which was by then not only the family home but also the location of the dance studio. She continued to live there until the 1980s when a fire destroyed both the home and the studio and she bought a house in Phibsboro, a move she considered akin to “going to the country”.
She was educated at Marlborough Street school and soon entered the family dancing business. Her initial career was as a demonstrator of dances, partnered by her brother George, entering competitions and then training as a teacher. She assumed a larger role in the school after the death of her father in 1946, but continued to have a wider profile, winning local and international competitions and later serving as a judge on the original BBC television series, Come Dancing.
She married Dubliner Seán Brunton on June 28th, 1954. They had four children. Seán was in the merchant navy and later went into the steel-erecting business but died prematurely in 1973, leaving his wife to raise their four children and manage the studio and school.
She was known for her strong sense of humour and an encouraging, relaxed style. In addition to the school, preparing students for exams, and hosting social dance classes for many years, she gave private lessons and had a long relationship with Castleknock College, offering dance instruction over many decades. This too continued a tradition, as in her grandfather’s era the school had been engaged to teach dancing to the young ladies in the convent on Haddington Road.
The Morosini-Whelan School was founded to teach the basics of ballroom dancing styles; waltz, quick step, tango, foxtrot and old-time waltz (her personal favourite was the foxtrot.)
But, over the years, other forms of dance classes had been introduced into their repertoire, including ballet under the training of Myrtle Lambkin. As with many of those who passed through the doors of the studio with Mary, (including her sons Frank and George), Myrtle Lambkin established her own school of ballet.
Morosini-Whelan always kept abreast of the newest dance trends and was interviewed on a fledgling Telefís Éireann when the 1960s dance craze known as the twist hit Irish shores. Again, in the 1970s, when disco dancing flourished with the release of the film Saturday Night Fever, she was quick to ensure the moves were learned and passed on in her classes. That open, forward-looking attitude has continued with all the latest Argentine tango, salsa and other dance styles now offered at the studio on Parnell Square.
Mary Morosini-Whelan claimed two passions in life; dance and people, and she was actively engaged with the dance studio until her final days. The name and the school continue with her daughters Elena and Sharon.
She is survived by them and another daughter, Louise; a sister, Dorothy; her son John; two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Mary Morosini-Whelan:born February 23rd, 1923, died April 18th, 2011