Who We Are Chat! Guest Book Join! Marie Duffy-Messenger
The Lady of the DanceGail Franx
Irish Dancing MagazineDescribed on the Lord of the Dance website as '...probably the most successful Irish Dance Teacher and Choreographer of modern times,' Marie Duffy-Messenger could quite justifiably be called 'The Lady of the Dance'. With exceptional versatility and achievement in all areas of choreography, and Irish dance experience spanning some 40 years, she was snapped up by Michael Flatley four years ago, to work on his new show - LOTD - and has never looked back.
Our Editor Gail Franx caught up with her in Bournemouth earlier this year:
It was a scorching hot day in July, when I arrived in Bournemouth to interview the Lady of the Dance herself, Marie Duffy-Messenger. We sat in a quiet room of the Berkeley Hotel, with the sun streaming in through the windows, and gradually, over the space of a few hours, I listened, enthralled, as her life unfolded.
She was born in Dublin, the youngest of eight, and the only girl. She started Irish dancing lessons at the tender age of six. This was not particularly a family tradition, her mother had danced just a little when she was younger. When I asked what made her start, it was, quite simply, that one of her brothers was having lessons and she wanted to have a go too!
And so, they both went to the local Christian Brothers school, where they were taught by Matiu O Maoileidigh, (who later became one of the original founders of An Coimisiun Le Rince Gaelacha). And, like so many young people today, once she tried Irish dancing, she found she was totally hooked!
"I would finish normal school and the only thing on my mind was to go to dancing class. Get the shoes, get the bag and go to dancing class. And if I wasn't in there in my own class, I was helping with the teaching. So, literally, every day of the week, I was there.
I took part in competitions myself, right up to senior level, but I enjoyed teaching more. More than dancing or adjudicating. The classroom is where I just loved to be - and I could go on and on sometimes without realising it. The dancers, I'm sure, could have shot me, because I'd go in there and just forget all sense of time. I'd be in class maybe, five or six hours, and that was with one group alone. I would just get completely lost in dancing classes - in another world. I'd go in in daylight, I'd come out and it would be night time."
Listening to Marie talk now, later in life, her enthusiasm for the dance is still incredibly strong and very obvious.
I found one of the most remarkable facts to be that from six years old, to taking her TCRG exams, Marie Duffy-Messenger never went to any other school other than Inis Ealga in Dublin. She became great friends with teacher Matiu O Maoileidigh. Indeed, being the only girl and with seven brothers, she spent a lot of her time with Mat and his family.
"Well, my Father passed away when I was 16, although he was never very involved with my dancing. (He used to say to me that I came at the wrong end of the family). They were quite elderly really, compared to other parents, and I suppose I came late. He was a very quiet man. My Mother was the strong one in the family. I suppose, with seven boys to rear, in those days, it was no easy task and she had to be a driving force.
Anyway, Mat's family became a second family to me. I more or less grew up with their girls. When my Father died, my mother went to America for a while, she had a sister there who she'd never visited, and as I was only 16, I stayed with Mat and his family. She was away when I took my TCRG and I didn't tell her about it until I'd passed. She was very proud when she found out though."
Once she'd passed her TCRG, it seemed but a natural progression for Marie to go into partnership with Matt and she became Co-Director of the Inis Ealga Academy. Running the school together, they were incredibly successful, winning a total of some 400 titles in the All-Ireland and World Championships, not to mention winning the Gold Medal for Ireland at the Folk Dance Olympics in Dijon in 1981, a competition spanning the five continents of the world!
Remarkably, at the same time as running Inis Ealga, Marie was also teaching, in the day, in National Schools in Ireland. She began teaching solely Irish dancing, as it was part of the National Curriculum, but through sheer numbers and necessity, ended up having to include acting, singing and stage management to boot.
"I started out just doing Irish dancing - at a different school each day of the week - Monday to Friday. I taught maybe, only half an hour a week to each class, although sometimes it was only twenty minutes because there would be up to 400 in a school and I'd have to fit in 10 or 12 classes in the day, with 30 or 40 pupils in each class.
At the end of the year, each school had to put on a big show. We had to have every class doing something and they couldn't ALL be Irish dancing, so I had to think of other ideas. I'd always been interested in doing exercise, drilling, that sort of thing, so that helped me a little, but then we moved into doing musicals and concerts and it eventually became a very big thing.
The month of June was concert time in schools in Ireland and each school would have a different week when their concert would run. I would put maybe three or four classes together at a time, so I'd have maybe 90 to 100 in each production on stage."
Little did she know how useful this experience was to prove later in her career. And such dedication! Marie would teach in these schools every day until three in the afternoon and then go straight off to Irish dancing class for the evening. I remarked on the intensity and dedication required, and was told quite unequivocally, "Well, as you know, the world of Irish dancing is very demanding, and if you want to do it seriously, you have to devote a lot of time to it." Quite an understatement in her own case, I think, but a valuable insight into the amount of effort and devotion needed to reach the heights she has.
I was interested to know if Marie had EVER thought of following a different career, or had ever tired of constantly teaching Irish dancing in those days, and I was surprised to learn that, over the years, she had tried many other things 'to keep herself busy'. Not only did she study various languages, but she also gained a Diploma in hairdressing, (something she said came in very handy with her classes), and completed a three year course in Public Speaking - which intrigued me. Why Public Speaking?
"Well, I suppose I did it to gain confidence really. I'm told I was very shy." (she laughs)
Now, although Marie is very softly spoken, I ventured to ask if it is possible to have your own dance class and be shy at the same time, judging by the bellowing I'd heard, on many occasions, from various Irish dancing teachers.
"Oh, I'm well able to do that too. But I did find the course interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think it did help me a lot."
How this lady could find the time for all these pursuits and still help run, what had now become, a world reknowned Irish dancing school, is true testament to her boundless energy and dedication. But, in 1988, Marie Duffy (as she was then known), made, what must have been, a very difficult and monumental decision. Having spent all her dancing life with Matiu O Maoileidigh, she left the Inis Ealga Academy and started her own dance studio.
"Well, I was a very long time in Inis Ealga and we were very successful. I guess we won every category at every age, male and female, in the World Championships. From solo dancing, right through to senior level, ceili dancing, figure dancing and dance dramas. Actually, when dance drama was introduced in the World's, there were two categories, Under 16 and Over 16, and we competed in both, for seven years, and so, out of those 14 competitions, we took 12 firsts and two seconds.
And, I guess it just came to a stage to move on. It was very intense, I gave all my time to dancing and nothing else, and I felt I'd achieved as much as I could. I hadn't planned on starting my own school, far from it. I felt I needed to take a step back and I decided I wasn't going to do as much (or so I thought).
Of course, it didn't last long. My arm was twisted and there was a lot of persuasion from pupils that had been with me for a long time, and so I started a small dancing class, with only about 20 or so people."
It goes without saying though, that in a very short space of time, they too, were very successful and Marie Duffy was somewhat in demand all around the world, conducting workshops and masterclasses in England, the USA, Canada and Australia.
Next month, in Part II of this interview, find out what happened to change Marie's life forever, and how her days are now filled, busy 'jetsetting' around the world with Lord of the Dance.
Proceed to Part II
of Lady of the Dance
Marie Duffy
Copyright 1999
Irish Dancing Magazine
Article appears courtesy of Irish Dancing Magazine
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