Irish dancer examining ballet hopefuls

Cynthia O'Dunlaing, a graded examiner with the Royal Academy of Dance, is in Malta visiting the 10 ballet schools run by RAD-registered teachers and conducting examinations for children who follow the academy's syllabus.

Having been an examiner for the academy for 25 years, Ms O'Dunlaing started Irish dancing at the age of three and was an all-Ireland champion at the age of seven. She moved on to ballet and was trained by Christine Kane, Ruth French and the Hammond School. She danced professionally with the Dublin Opera Company and Dublin Dance Theatre until 1961.

After her marriage she continued to be production coordinator for DDT and in 1968 Ms O'Dunlaing started her own ballet school, which she managed with great success till her retirement in 1999.

Two of her four children have followed her in dance careers - a son who danced professionally and now owns his own theatre, La Fourmi, in Lucerne, Switzerland, and a daughter who has taken over her ballet school, The Dance Academy, in Dublin, where enjoyment of dance, examinations and performances share equal status in the teaching of her pupils.