It’s a long way from Waynestown to Covent Garden. On a sunny Sunday morning this quiet townland in Co Meath feels like more of an arable than an arabesque sort of place. Come September, though, one of its younger residents – 15-year-old Gearóid Solan – will step into the world of Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev and Darcey Bussell.
The first Irish male dancer in 30 years to be accepted into the Royal Ballet's senior school, Gearóid – a student at Castleknock College, in Dublin, who, like many Irish teenagers around the country, is putting the finishing touches to his Junior Cert art project – appears to be remarkably cool about his achievement.
But he admits that when he first got the news it was a different story. "My mum, Anne Marie, and I were both sitting at the computer. She was showing me some sort of video, and by accident she clicked into her email. And there was an email from the Royal Ballet School there. We looked at each other before we opened it together. We just read the first line, and she was over the moon. So was I." Over the moon? "Well, she cried. Then we rang Dad."
Gearóid has worked hard for his triumph. “I’m doing around 14½ hours a week in ballet classes,” he says. “And then at home I do other stuff as well.”
From Monday to Thursday he has classes at Celbridge School of Ballet, in Co Kildare, with Gráinne McArdle; he also travels to Dublin to work with Katherine Lewis and Irish National Youth Ballet, at the Dance House studios. "It kind of adds up," he says.
How did he get into ballet? “I started in a stage school with drama and acting. When I was about six I started gymnastics. From there I got into ballet. I took my first class and liked it.” Does he remember that first ballet class? He laughs. “Yeah. The teacher would put on some weird music and say, ‘Be a monster.’ Or, ‘Be a cat.’ ”
He auditioned for Irish National Youth Ballet (INYB) at the age of nine. “My mum kind of forced me to,” he says. Why? “My mum kind of knows everything. I think she knew that I’d like being on stage . . . Of course she was right.”
Gearóid is preparing for INYB's show Ballet Fantasia. He is dancing in The Seven Sisters – a classical-style piece choreographed by Stephen Brennan about stars that become humans, then persuade two shepherds to become stars in Orion's Belt – and in a piece in a more contemporary style, Moving On.
“It’s about moving on,” he says, “whether from school to college, moving on from Ireland to abroad, or whatever. It could be anyone, moving on to any stage of life.”
It’s particularly apt as Gearóid gears up for his own big move. “Lots of the teachers are giving me tips,” he says. “Stephen Brennan was giving me advice on what to eat over there. I’ll have to cook for myself . . . I’ve learned how to cook rashers and sausages. And I know how to cook rice and porridge and stuff.”
It’s not as if this Irish lad is going to be thrown on to the mean streets of central London. The Royal Ballet has been looking after young dancers for a long time, and the school offers a structured life of dance and academic study. For the past two summers Gearóid has attended a summer school there.
Still, it’s a big leap for a 15-year-old – and an expensive one. The ballet school charges almost €41,000 a year for tuition and accommodation, and Gearóid is involved in the search for a grant.
It's mildly strange to sit in the conservatory of the Solan house, drinking coffee provided by Gearóid's dad, Ger, and to talk about the five positions of the feet in ballet and about superstar role models: male dancers such as Carlos Acosta, of the Royal Ballet, and Ivan Vasiliev, of the Bolshoi and American Ballet Theatre. For this is a normal Irish family doing ordinary, regular things. Gearóid's brother Michael plays rugby and Gaelic football and is doing his Leaving Cert. And there's a black Labrador called, um, Blackie.
Does Gearóid get slagged by his friends for his devotion to dance?
“No, I actually don’t – surprisingly,” he says. “I told my friends at the end of first year, and they haven’t done any slagging since then at all. They’re fine with it.”
Irish National Youth Ballet performs Ballet Fantasia at the Civic Theatre, Tallaght, from Thursday, April 30th, until Saturday, May 2nd
