Aidan Chester is the father of four boys, Adam (27), who is a schoolteacher, and Evan (24) is in the Naval Service, both are passionate about rugby and cricket.
His youngest two boys are ballet dancers. Aidan Jnr is 18 and is studying Musical Dance and Performing Arts in Urdang Dance Academy in London and the youngest, Will (16) is set to go to London’s English National Ballet School in September.
Will (16) is set to go to London’s English National Ballet School in September.
Will has been dancing since he was three. Both Aidan and Will were members of the Irish Youth Ballet for quite a number of years.
They performed in numerous shows including Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Coppelia and many more. They also danced with the Irish Ballet at the Gaiety a few years ago.
Wills dream is to study ballet at a school and then join a ballet company and become an elite ballet dancer.
“Will is so passionate about dancing and has been doing it for so long,” says Mr Chester.
“It’s simply great to see him have these opportunities. My mother and my sister are ballet teachers. That’s where he gets it from. He doesn’t get it from me. I was more into the sport.
“He’s been performing in shows at the Helix, all of that sort of thing. Both the boys went for auditions in the Irish Youth Ballet, the president’s wife Sabina Higgins and David Norris were involved in that so it’s a very well established, very well-known organisation in the Irish dancing world. They danced there for the guts of 10 years from seven years of age up to 16.
“The Christmas show was The Nutcracker and for us as a family, it’d be the start of Christmas. As they grew up, they had different roles in it, and then finally when they get to the older age group, they’d get to be the Prince in The Nutcracker.
“They just live for dancing. They’re constantly dancing in the kitchen. I could be asleep upstairs, and I’d wake up and hear them dancing and practicing.
“Aidan is in London now, doing musical theatre and performance… he wants to get into that.
“William is a ballet professional. He’s all about ballet. He wants to be in a ballet school. He wants to be dancing for a ballet company all around the world which is pretty amazing for a young Irish boy.
“In January, he said, ‘I’m going to audition for some of the schools’. He went to auditions in London for the Royal Ballet, which is probably the best-known ballet company of the world. He went through each of the rounds, and we kept saying ‘this is great’.
Aidan Chester is the father of four boys.
“He got the semifinals of the Royal Ballet, and the English National Ballet offered him a place. He’s heading off the English National Ballet in 27 days’ time. At 16 years of age, it’s a big move. It’s a daunting move, but it’s what he lives for.
“For kids, the earlier you go the better because it is a short time span as a ballet dancer. You won’t be dancing as an elite dancer in your 40s. It’s a bit like a sports person, the window of opportunity is relatively small, and you have to take that opportunity.”
While Will’s family is filled with pride watching him aim so high, work so hard and already achieve so much, it is hard for his parents to support him financially.
In Ireland there is currently no funding available for young dancers.
“It’s also a major shame that given Ireland’s deep cultural impact on the world that talented young people like William have to go overseas to get the best training, as his dad, I’d love to see him stay here at home and yet have access to the best training possible but it doesn’t exist here,” he said.
“It’s great to see all our athletes doing so well in the Olympics and fair play to the governing bodies providing the investment of the facilities, the investments in training. I know a lot of the guys go to the US and the UK, to train. But in the dance world, particularly for a young dancer, there’s no support.
“You see the athletes, the benefits they bring to the country around the world. There’s great enthusiasm for the remarkable success that they’re having, and it is a pity that young dancers don’t get the same support.
“We’ve been on to our local politicians. We’ve written to the Minister in the Arts Culture, in Education, Higher Education and they just keep passing us around. We’ve been on to Dance Ireland, all the governing bodies and there’s no funding available for young performers.
“There are funding programmes if you’re an established professional artist, they try and help you. But if you’re a young person who has this hope and dream, there’s absolutely nothing.
“You can see the benefits of funding and support in our athletes but it’s a shame that the dance world doesn’t get anything.
“These are his hopes and dreams. My job is to see how I can help support that dream and try and get the funding privately.
“William is the only Irish student, and it’s amazing for them and we want to make it work. But the tuition fees and the English National Ballet are €25,000 a year. Then you have the accommodation, medical insurance, training costs, uniform cost, equipment needed.
“We are applying for UK based scholarships to see if they can help but obviously as you know accommodation and living costs are extremely high and for someone so young to be away from home needs plenty of financial support so they can focus on the training without any distraction.
“He was offered a spot with the Boston Ballet unexpectedly this summer. So he’s back a week from Boston, where he spent six weeks.
“They offered him a full scholarship, it was amazing. I think it’s $17,000 for the six-week programme, which was amazing but then, there’s all the additional costs, flights, visas, accommodation.
“It’s a shame our young people have to go abroad to achieve their dreams,” he added.
The Arts Council and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media have been approached for comment.