Born: 20 November 1905, Ireland
Died: 18 January 1987
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: NA
This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by Frances Clarke. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
Burchill, Eveline (1905–87), dance teacher, was born 20 November 1905 in Cork, one of three daughters and four children of James Orr Burchill, managing director of the Singer sewing-machine company, and Lucy Burchill (née Power). The family subsequently moved to Dublin, settling in Eaton Square, Terenure. Educated at the Diocesan School, Dublin, Eveline had delicate health as a child, and took up dancing on the recommendation of the family doctor. As a teenager she moved to London to study dance full-time, learning ballet from Judith Espinosa and ballroom dancing from fellow Corkwoman Josephine Bradley. At the age of 15 she performed in a ballet at the Plaza Theatre, London. Having decided to concentrate on teaching rather than performance, she returned to Dublin in the 1920s, setting up her own dancing academy in Rathmines, while also giving classes in Moran’s Hotel. She taught a variety of styles, including ballet, ballroom, tap, Latin, character, and adagio. In 1940 she moved her academy to 122A St Stephen’s Green West, which she later maintained with a subsidiary school, the Studio Stella Ballroom in Rathmines. In July 1943 she married her former pupil George Begley ; they had no children. They ran the schools together till 1953, when they were separated, and were subsequently divorced, after which Begley took over the Rathmines school. After the demolition of 122 St Stephen’s Green in 1974, she taught from the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society hall and other venues, retiring only in 1983. Throughout much of this period she gave dancing recitals every alternate year in Dublin, initially held at the Theatre Royal and later in the Gaiety Theatre (the last taking place in 1973), for which she arranged the choreography and designed the costumes, assisted by her sister Sheela Ballagh.
Though the greater part of her career was centred on Dublin, she was also known abroad through her adjudication at ballroom dancing competitions in Britain and Europe, among them the International Ballroom Dancing Championships in the Albert Hall, London (1963). A fellow of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, she regularly attended its London congresses. The writer Lynn Doyle wrote two ballets for her, ‘The servants’ ball’ and ‘Wild oats’. After moving out of her Stephen’s Green flat, she settled in Cross Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin. She died 18 January 1987 in a Co. Dublin nursing home, and was buried in Mount Jerome cemetery.