Geraldine Noreen Bernadette O’Shea Ryan OAM, flanked by Eugene O’Rourke and Jeanette Mollenhauer at the launch in Korooit of Jeanette’s history of Irish dancing in Australia.
17/09/1930 – 25/11/2023
Australian Irish Dancing lost one of its pioneers late last year with the passing of Geraldine Ryan. Geraldine was the youngest of the O’Shea family of Hawthorn (a suburb of Melbourne), with older sisters Margaret, Josephine and Nancy. In 1954, she married Patrick Ryan and they had three children: Patrick, Daniel and Geraldine. Geraldine’s husband Patrick and son Daniel both pre-deceased her.
Geraldine began Irish dance lessons in 1936 in St Patrick’s Hall, central Melbourne, and gave her first public performance that same year when she danced a jig and reel at a St Patrick’s Society Concert (Advocate, 10/09/1936, p. 24). For five successive years (1949-1953), she held the title of Victorian champion and was also an Australian champion. At the tender age of 12, Geraldine began her career as an Irish dance teacher, with her mother on hand to assist with administrative matters. During a trip to Ireland in 1953, Geraldine passed the Teagascóir Choimisiúin le Rinci Gaelacha (TCRG) examination to become a formally qualified teacher, recognised by An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha, the Irish Dancing Commission (IDC).
Geraldine always took a broad view of the value of Irish dance in the Irish community in Melbourne. She and her students performed at a variety of events, such as the “All Nations Programme” at the Maribyrnong Migrant Camp under the auspices of Archbishop Daniel Mannix (Advocate, 03/01/52) and a concert in the Melbourne Town Hall in aid of the Good Samaritan Sisters, Japan (Advocate, 13/05/54, p. 21). She also believed that Irish dance is an activity that should be available to everyone; to that end, she travelled around 3,000km every week to teach in Echuca, Wodonga, Warrnambool and other regional Victorian towns as well as in suburban Melbourne. This dedication caught the eye of journalist Carolyn Webb, whose article in The Age (14/02/20) describes Geraldine’s activities (https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/it-s-for-reel-irish-dance-teacher-89-travels-up-to-3000km-a-week-20200213-p540jx.html). Geraldine’s teaching pursuits in Koroit were also recorded by the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s Backroads television show(https://iview.abc.net.au/video/RF1827V013S00).
Geraldine’s other dance-related achievements include being:the first Irish Dance teacher to enter a float in Melbourne’s annual Moomba Parade; a founding member of the Australian Irish Dancing Association and the first Australian to be elected Vice-President of the IDC (in 1981). Outside of Australia, she acted as adjudicator at the World Folk Dance Festival in Bavaria, Germany, in 1985 and in Majorca, Spain, in 1987, 1989, 1993 and 1997. In 1986, Geraldine was presented with the Irish Community Award for her ongoing work in that community, in 1998 she received the Seamus McGettigan Award and in 1999 she was named Irish Australian of the Year. In 2013 Geraldine received the Gradam Award from the IDC for lifelong dedication to the promotion and teaching of Irish dance, at the world championships held in Boston, USA. In 2020, she was awarded the Order of Australia medal for services to Irish dance.
Geraldine Ryan passed away on 25th November 2023, aged 93. She is survived by her son Patrick (“Paddy”), daughter Geraldine, four grandchildren and a great-granddaughter. Yet beyond her family, Geraldine is survived by thousands of Irish dancers. Of course, there are the generations of students taught personally by her across Victoria, but arguably, every Irish dancer in Australia owes a debt of gratitude to Geraldine Ryan for her courage and determination as a dancer, teacher and promoter of Irish culture in this nation. As her great friend of 50 years, John Cullinane (Cork), wrote in “Geraldine O’Shea Ryan, Melbourne- Transcribed notes from dictaphone recordings” (2006):
“Ní Bheidh do léheid arís ann” (The likes of her won’t be seen again).
Jeanette Mollenhauer
Honorary Fellow, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, The University of Melbourne.
Tinteán 