Time was when tap dancing or elocution classes were the ultimate in extracurricular activities for young talent. A few venerable drama schools flew the flag but, by and large, options for the average youngster with an urge to perform were limited. All's changed. Performance schools have come into their own and a self-expression seeking youth culture is streaming through their doors.

The Performing Arts School, an all-singing, all-dancing, raw energy emporium on Barrow Street, Dublin, is one such. A place where exuberant confidence is the norm, it has 600 students and labyrinthine corridors and studios awash with talent and wannabes from two to 18 years.

The building is a vast, old-stone complex by the Grand Canal basin. It seems custom-built to house such activity, and in a way it is. Known locally as The Factory, it's been a rock n' roll recording and rehearsal venue for more than 20 years.

Its space possibilities attracted Jill Doyle and Eamonn Farrell to Barrow Street just three years ago. Intent on setting up a performance school they were, Doyle says, "looking for a place to build studios that would cater to all we wanted to do - ballet, funk dancing, drama and more. We needed space to allow for a lot of movement and a serious music system."

They have all of those things: high, bright studios with wall-to-wall mirrors for ballet, jazz dancing classes in a studio overlooking the canal basin, smaller singing studios, others for theatre workshops and film production courses.

"We've got 25 teachers working for us," says Doyle, a relaxed lynch-pin at its centre, "and we're open for classes on Saturdays and Sundays. The rest of the week goes on administration and planning work. We like to offer a range of classes which people can do over a day, or two, combining a few. We've got six studios going on the hour, every hour, over the weekend."

It's an ambitious venture, and it's working. It comes at a cost, of course, but Doyle is unfazed. "We're paying it back as we go. It's a juggling act but I can be relaxed because we're so organised."

A stroll around the school brings demands and queries from all sides, all of them dealt with effortlessly and smiling. Performance is in Jill Doyle's blood and bones - she describes herself as an actress who teaches drama.

"I've been combining the two since I was 19," she explains, "though since we set up here this has become my life really." She and her partner in Barrow Street, Eamonn Farrell, met in the Diggis Dance Centre in Dublin. "We had about six months running the Diggis together and discovered that our ideas for a school were similar so we went for it," she says.

"It was an instinct thing and it's paid off. It's fun, for everyone. If it wasn't fun we could close up. As Eamonn says, the school offers everything he wanted to do, but couldn't, as a child."

The school's teachers come with a variety of training backgrounds which include qualifications from the Leinster School of Music, the Irish Board of Speech and Drama, Royal Academy of Dance and the venerable Miss Meredith's. Doyle's twin sisters, Carol and Colette (blond and almost identical), teach drama, while other teachers include Conal Kearney (Theatre Workshops) and Moira Sweeney (film production).

"We hand-pick teachers who are good with children and young people," says Doyle. "We're always working on a show too. This year we're putting on The Adventures of Annable Ash, an original show which will have bits from all sorts of musical and plays. It will go on in the Olympia at the end of May. We're hoping to record an original song too and to sell at the show. We've got our own Nice n' Spice group all lined up."

The agency part of the school provides young talent for theatre, film, television, commercials, fashion shoots and voiceovers. The school runs for the three normal school terms and exams catered to include the Irish Board of Speech and Drama Poetry Exams, RAD Ballet exams and various grade exams. Prices range from £25 for a half-hour per week per term, to £75 for two hours per week per term. "We've got a waiting list," says Doyle, "but we're not a school that stuffs young people in and just does song and dance with them. We think that it's really important for the teachers to know the name of everyone in the class by the second week.

"We want what people learn here to go with them for the rest of their lives - things like confidence and communication skills. If they want to go on into the performing arts, we'll advise on follow-up activity for careers. Above all, we aim to make it fun to be here."