Wednesday, April 8, 1998
The River Flows
DANCE: In the wake of ‘Riverdance,’ touring back in town this
week, the world is stepping in time with all that is Irish
By Cheryl Klein
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
You might say that "Riverdance" uses Irish step dancing to stage
several centuries of a rich, encompassing culture. But after a
comparatively scant four years of life, the show is making history,
not just dancing it.
The theater-shaking percussion of dozens of reel-ing feet, the
ethereal lilt of Irish folk music and sensual cameos from other
native dance forms have garnered the show a Grammy Award and drawn
countless viewers to the age-old art. "Riverdance" premiered in
1996 to a sold-out crowd and is back at the Pantages Theatre
beginning Friday.
But perhaps most importantly, the show has accomplished a unique
feat in serving a drama-hungry public: modernization without
alienating those to whom it pays homage.
"(Producer) Moya Doherty and (Director) John McColgan took Irish
dancing and contemporized it and made it more glamorous and sexy,"
says Eileen Martin, who has been dancing the female lead since
American Jean Butler left the show a year ago.
In its traditional form – the form that still dominates
international dance competitions – Irish dance requires a perfectly
rigid upper body and lightning fast, but tightly controlled,
footwork. This practice may stem from its days as a Catholic school
institution, where the clergy frowned upon dance-as-innuendo.
Now, Martin says, "We’re allowed to use our arms. … It was
hard at the beginning for us because before, you were taught to
keep your face straight – no smiles, nothing. Then all of a sudden
you were told you had to smile and put all the feeling into
it."
Despite (or perhaps because of) the dancers’ short skirts and
the rock-tinged soundtrack, the show is wildly popular in its
homeland and many Irish dance practitioners are breathing the
contented sighs that accompany credit long overdue.
"A lot of us spend a lot our time Irish dancing. You go to two
or three classes a week and you go to your competitions every
weekend. They spend a lot of money and time," Martin explains.
"With this, you’re actually getting something back. You’re making
money now. … This is the first professional life for Irish
dancers, so we’re giving them something to work towards."
Had the seven-minute piece that was the original "Riverdance"
not debuted at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, Martin suspects
she would still be attending college and perhaps teaching Irish
dance on the side.
She’s danced since she was four years old, however, and the
chance to bring her experience to the world stage culminated a
multigenerational tradition.
"My father danced before me and my older sister, well, she hated
it. She gave it up," Martin laughs in her lilting Dublin accent.
"But I just took to it from the very beginning."
Now Martin looks forward to the moment when the curtain goes up
on a hazily lit stage each evening for her first number, the
all-female "Countess Kathleen."
"Once you hear the music, it’s off you go," Martin says.
This she owes to composer Bill Whelan, who brings such twists as
an electric fiddle solo to traditional rhythms.
"People say ‘Riverdance’ is not traditional music," Whelan told
the Los Angeles Times. "All I’ve done is used the forms of
traditional music. But as long as you respect the fact that it
comes out of a place that’s very special and old and expressive of
a history and a culture, then I think you should feel that behind
you like a wind in your sail."
"Riverdance" is deeply aware of its roots, which, beginning in
the 19th century, find their place in a global collage that
includes American tap, Spanish Flamenco and Russian folk dancing.
The second half of the show portrays just such cultural
encounters.
"It’s the story of the Irish people emigrating and going out
into the New World," Martin explains. "It shows the differences and
similarities in our types of dance and culture."
In a segment dubbed ‘Trading Taps,’ a pair of Irish dancers new
to America ridicule the loose-limbed styles of two African American
hoofers, only to find themselves imitated with an equal blend of
humor and misunderstanding. Yet the experiment eventually brings
newfound beauty as the dancers share a moment of choreographic
catharsis in an often-hostile United States.
Tap preservationist Rusty Frank credits such encounters with
making tap dancing what it is today.
"When those groups of people were either brought here or came
here – a lot of them did not come by choice, some of the Irish were
indentured servants – they lived in the same areas. And they’d
dance in their own cultures, but also together," Frank says. "They
met in America for the first time and there was bound to be an
exchange. A lot of them met and intermingled in New York or in the
South."
Martin, who says that the United States provides the most
responsive audiences, sees "Riverdance" as a particularly emotional
journey for Irish Americans.
"I think we bring them back to their roots and bring memories
back," Martin says. "The first time we came to Radio City there
were people crying in the audience" during "American Wake," which
depicts the Irish leaving their native isle.
Of course, restless young souls have a habit of leaving the
nest. Such was the case with original male lead Michael Flatley,
who now moves his feet and heaves his chest to the tunes of "Lord
of the Dance." Martin also recollects a "Rhythm of the Celts" and a
"Spirit of the Dance."
"Anything Irish at the moment seems to be taking off," Martin
observes. Yet she credits the fledgling shows with keeping
"Riverdance" on its toes and preventing the original from being a
quickly forgotten blip of culture. "If it was just ‘Riverdance,’ at
this stage you’d be going, ‘Oh, people love it. So what?’ And you
have to keep yourself up there, keep your standards up. Healthy
competition."
DANCE: "Riverdance" opens Friday at the Pantages Theatre.
Tickets range from $46 to $71. For more information, call (213)
365-3560.
"Riverdance" infuses traditional Irish step dancing with modern
energy and sensuality.
Colin Dunne performs in "Riverdance."
Photos courtesy of Broadway LA
Members of "Riverdance" perform "Thunderstorm." Thanks to the
show’s immense popularity, interest in Irish culture and dancing
has enjoyed a resurgence.