Longford Leader Article on Shawbrook 1989

Summer Ballet School closes with a flourish.
By Geraldine Grennan

Longford Leader, 25th August 1989
The Shawbrook School of Ballet in Legan brought their highly-popular Summer School to a close for another year on Saturday nnight last with a spectacular display of dancing by over sixty students from all parts of the country.
The summer Ballet School which is the only residential school of it’s kind in the country, is run by Anica Dawson, who has been teaching ballet in Legan for the past eleven years.
This year’s fourth Summer School got underway on Augst 6th last, with fifteen to twenty students per week. ‘The basic requirement of the Summer School is that students must be over fourteen years of age or have passed their pre-elementary ballet exams,’ says Anica Dawson.
Teachers for the school came from New York, Mexico and Liverpool, and students came from as far away as Cork, Donegal and Dublin with a number of Longford and Westmeath students among the young ballet hopefuls.
The ‘Grand Finale’ of the Summer School took place in the Shawbrook School theatre on Saturday night, which was attended by Martin Drury, Director of the Irish Dance Council and Gay Tanham, director of the Dance Council.\
One of the highlight of the evening was a ballet display with was choreographed by the students themselves, and Anica says the creativity displayed by the students was ‘exceptional.’
The leading dancer at the ‘Grand Finale’ of the Shawbrook Summer School was Penny Wilson from Longford , who is currently training in the world-famous Dorethy Stevens Ballet School in England. Penny had to stand in for one of the Summer School students who received an injury during rehearsals last week.
Copyright Longford Leader