Whelan, Mary Elizabeth Morosini-

by Linde Lunney

Whelan, Mary Elizabeth Morosini- (1923–2011), dancing teacher, was born on 23 February 1923 in Dublin, the third of five children of Joseph Whelan, a dancing teacher, and his wife Violetta (née Morosini), who was born in Verona, Italy. Violetta Morosini had trained as a concert pianist and had a successful career as a musician, often accompanying silent films in cinemas; as well as piano, she played trumpet, saxophone and drums. Even after marriage, she occasionally toured with her own Ladies Trio of musicians, playing in hotels around Ireland and on the radio station 2RN. The Morosini family were well established in Irish life. Violetta's grandfather, Giorgio Morosini (d. 1882), a painter, had come to Ireland from Palermo, Sicily; he exhibited in the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1861 and gave drawing lessons. He was married to Clotilde Parigiani, an opera singer, said to be a cousin of Pope Pius IX. Violetta's father, Francesco Morosini (d. 1913), a musician and teacher of music, singing and language, taught Italian for many years in Blackrock College. Joseph Whelan had taught at Professor Graham's Academy of Dance in North Great George's Street, Dublin. After marriage, he and Violetta joined together their names and talents, and in 1912 established the Morosini-Whelan School of Ballroom Dancing in Harcourt Street, moving in the early 1930s to larger premises in Henry Street in the centre of Dublin, where it became one of the city's best-known dancing schools.

Mary grew up over the Henry Street premises. Since there were no other children living locally, she and her siblings had few friends and often played together on the shop roofs of Henry Street. After education in Marlborough Street school, she joined the teaching staff of her parents' dancing school, where she demonstrated dances with her brother George, who was also her partner in competitions throughout Ireland and Britain, many of which they won. Her eldest brother, Frank, was also an accomplished dancer, and opened his own dance school in South King Street. Her sister Dorothy became a ballerina and settled in Australia. After the death of her father in 1946 at the age of 56, Mary assumed a larger role in the running of the Morosini-Whelan school. Like her father, she also gave private lessons and taught dance in secondary schools, such as Castleknock College, Blackrock College and Clongowes Wood. During the 1940s and early 1950s, ballroom dancing was for many the basis of social life. For the young, it was often the source of romance and marriage partners, so almost everyone wanted to have at least basic dancing skills, and generations of Dublin children and teenagers learned the waltz, quick step, tango and foxtrot (Mary's personal favourite) in the Morosini-Whelan ballroom. Mary was an excellent teacher, putting learners at ease with her patience and sense of humour, and encouraging them with her infectious passion for dance.

Making a living by teaching dance was often hard work. Attendance at the school was seasonal, with numbers dropping off drastically in summer and during Lent. Over Mary's long career, she made sure that the school kept up with the times and offered teaching in new dances that periodically swept into fashion, such as the twist in the 1960s and disco in the 1970s (she was interviewed on Telefís Éireann about her efforts to teach the twist). Other forms of dance were also taught at the school, such as ballet by Myrtle Lambkin (d. 2009), who went on to establish her own ballet school. The Morosini-Whelan school suffered a setback in April 1982 when a fire that started in nearby premises on Henry Street destroyed the studio as well as the family's living accommodation. The family moved to Phibsborough, which Mary considered to be practically in the countryside. After some difficult years, the school moved into new premises in Parnell Square, and continued to offer traditional ballroom dancing classes and newly popular dance styles such as salsa and tango. Television programmes in Britain and Ireland, such as Come dancing (on which Mary appeared as a judge) and latterly the very popular Strictly come dancing, encouraged new generations to learn ballroom dancing. She was still teaching until shortly before her death at the age of 88 on 18 April 2011 in the Mater Hospital, Dublin. She was buried in Glasnevin cemetery.

She married (28 June 1954) in the Dublin pro-cathedral John ('Sean') Brunton, a merchant seaman, who died in 1973, leaving Mary to bring up a young family on her own. She was survived by a son and three daughters, two of whom, Elena and Sharon, have continued the Morosini-Whelan dance school.