Isobel Monro (Malta)

Isobel Monro (Malta)

Isobel Monro founded the Isabella School of Dance in Malta in 1956 at the Savoy Hotel, Sliema.

In her diary she details her own training – from her first lesson at a school in Bath, to studying at a residential ballet school in Bristol, to taking RAD exams in Taunton in 1952 (Intermediate), and eventually teaching her own pupils in Torpoint.

From there she journeyed back to Malta, where she had lived as a child during the war. Her dream was to return to the island and open up a ballet school, which she did in 1956, whilst living at the Meadowbank Hotel, at the Savoy Hotel in Sliema.

Isobel Monro.

This is an extract from Isobel’s diary:

“In the 1950s when I had at last reached my goal, I hired part of the building in order to teach there. At that time the Savoy was privately owned but run by a caretaker and his family. His name was Crispin Mangion and he had a wife and two daughters. The family lived on the premises and ran everything, including the cleaning, the tiny bar and the bedrooms, but above all the functions in the wonderful ballroom where I was to run my dance school. Mr Mangion was a lovely man, always smiling, very fair in any transaction he made, and very religious. It was an often-quoted story that before I came on the scene he had won a considerable amount of money on a lottery. He could have bought the Savoy and made a profitable business of his own, but instead gave the money to the church. I taught dancing there for four years and he charged me a nominal amount for the hire of the hall, the records of which I still have.”

In 1957 Peggy Whiteley, invited by Isobel, came to Malta to examine students, and in 1958 Isobel was appointed the RAD representative – see articles from the Times of Malta below.

Below are photographs of Isobel and students from the Isabella Dance School, taken mainly by the Times of Malta. I have a few more photos and also programmes with names of students, and dates of performances. These below are from 1956-60. Isobel choreographed many of the shows, designed sets, made costumes, and performed in them with her students. Some were taken at the Knight’s Hall, Valetta, and others at the Savoy Hotel.

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