A disco dancing competition while on summer holidays sparked an unexpected love of movement in 8-year-old Alan Foley. After that, one look at the movie 'Flashdance' was all it took to get him hooked for life. Now he's the subject of a movie himself, 'Breaking Pointe', charting the story of the Cork City Ballet, in which he has played many roles including that of principal dancer and choreographer.
Alan joined Sean Rocks on Arena to talk about the film and about the inimitable and formidable late, great Joan Denise Moriarty, who put ballet on the map in Ireland in the 70's. "She frightened the life out of me!" said Alan, who was one of her star pupils, but the two shared a close and special bond.
Now as a teacher himself, Alan draws on her wisdom in his own classes and credits her with teaching him how to survive in the challenging world of professional ballet.
"It's a very difficult career anyway, but it's also very boring sometimes because you do the same thing every single day and you need a very strong constitution… How many professions (are there) where you stand in front of a mirror for 8 hours a day, wearing very little clothes, criticizing yourself, you'll get an idea of where I'm coming from and you sort of see why it is that you know dancers, need to be pretty tough individuals to cope with that."
Click here to listen to Arena.