 |
| Peta Anderson (c) and company. |
Directed by
Nigel Turner-Carroll – Choreographed by Peta Anderson
Ball-room
choreography by Alex Vladmirov.
Musical
Direction by Andy Horvath – Lighting and Video Director: Matthew Marshall
Presented by
Mellen Events - Canberra Theatre, 20th August 2022.
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens OAM
Until last
night my favourite Irish dancer has been Wharf Revue’s Jonathan Biggins. Maybe
his technique won’t win him any medals, but it’s certainly entertaining.
But that was
before I attended “Eireborne”, a slick polished celebration of Irish dance
which attracted a capacity audience to the Canberra Theatre last night. Sorry
Jonathan, you’re going to have to lift your game.
Irish dance
is one of the most demanding of the dance style’s with the attention focussed
on the lower half of the body for intricate percussive footwork, with the hands
and arms held rigidly by the sides.
In creating
the choreography for “Eireborne” celebrated Irish dance exponent Peta Anderson,
herself a veteran of International Irish Dance shows on Broadway and
Internationally, has surrounded herself with ten top Irish dancers, mostly from
around Australia but including also a couple of Internationals, and taken the
opportunity to push the boundaries of traditional Irish dance to create a
succession of eye-bogglingly complex dance routines.
As most of
the dancers have been competitors in the Irish World Dance Championships,
including the current World Irish Dance Champion, 19 year-old Liam Costello,
who was crowned the World Irish Dance Champion for the third time this year,
the standard of the dancing throughout was high.
In creating
her choreography Anderson released her dancers from the upper body rigidity to
include choreographed arm movements in a fast-moving series of striking
routines performed to the music of Enya, U2, The Cranberries, Van Morrison
and other popular Irish artists, all
played live by a superb band of six
multi-instrumentalists under the musical direction of percussionist, Andy
Horvath.
Her
choreography included clever props including brooms and sound-boxes and to add
additional flash and dazzle Anderson incorporated ball-room dancers, Alexandra
Vladimirov and William Tukia-Edwards into her routines. At one-point they
performed a stunning tango which included elements of Irish dance in the
choreography.
Happy
leprechaun, Pete Murphy proved a jovial host, keeping to his script with
informative, entertaining patter and charming with his superb vocals. Sharing
solos and duets with Murphy was glamorous vocalist Reigan Derry; their vocals adding
attractive enhancement to the seamless flow of captivating song and dance.
A particular
highlight of the evening was a potted history of the development of Irish Dance
over the years. This included a tantalisingly brief snippet by current World
Champion, Liam Costello, performing in competition mode. Elsewhere Costello
danced brilliantly as an ensemble member but it seemed a shame not to have
included the routine which won him his current crown.
A notable
feature of “Eireborne” was the impressive production values surrounding the
excellent performances. The simple
attractive setting backed by colourful well-chosen constantly changing LED
screens, smart contemporary costuming, remarkably disciplined lighting design,
and highly polished performances, together with the gentle understated humour
which permeated the show was recognised and rewarded throughout with vociferous
applause by the delighted audience.
This review also published in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au
