not bring a solution to the financial problems besetting both companies, and after one joint season in Dublin in the late autumn of 1963 and in Cork the following January, the amalgamated company, Irish National Ballet, had to be disbanded in March 1964. Ballet schools and companies in Ireland Irish Theatre Ballet was the first professional dance company in Ireland for some time. The Abbey Theatre School of Ballet had been run by Ninette de Valois with the support of W.B. Yeats from 1927-1933, and was not just a school but a performing company, with de Valois herself often dancing in its productions. A later "Abbey School of Ballet" was founded by two of its dancers, and continued with performances into the 1950s (but was primarily a school). Two more projects were launched by students of de Valois. First, in 1936, Sara Payne launched her Ballet School and Company, which performed eight ballets between then and 1942. Then in 1939 Cepta Cullen launched the Irish Ballet Club, which performed 14 ballets up to 1944. Finally, Patricia Ryan launched the National Ballet School in 1956, and added a formal Ballet Company in 1959, and these operated until the forced merger with Irish Theatre Ballet, and the subsequent closure of them all. Irish Ballet Company/Irish National Ballet (1973–1989) In 1973, the Irish government decided to fund a professional ballet company, entrusted to Moriarty: the Irish Ballet Company. It received a government grant at first and was subsequently financed by the Arts Council. Ninette de Valois was patron. She attended the first performance unannounced and donated half the Dutch Erasmus Prize, which she had just received, so that Moriarty could bring in distinguished teachers for special courses. Like Irish Theatre Ballet, Moriarty's first professional company, it was a touring company, which travelled all over Ireland in two annual seasons. David Gordon of the Royal Ballet was the ballet master, Muriel Large was the administrator. Conditions were difficult for the dancers: salaries were small, as was the grant with which the company had to make do; the buildings that had to be used for training and rehearsal were far from ideal; performance facilities in the provincial centres were often dire. On the other hand, the dancers performed in a greater variety of roles than they would have done in a bigger company; they worked closely with many international choreographers and were encouraged to choreograph