By William Cochrane
“Welcome to Our Living Room.”
Rooted in Irish tradition, TIDC celebrates more than traditional Irish dance, it celebrates Irish culture. Using traditional dance form as its foundation, TIDC springs up and into the future, melding the classical with the present.
Based in Chicago, founding Artistic Director MARK HOWARD and TIDC have been pushing the boundaries of progressive Irish dance since 1990. Now, after a four year absence, TIDC makes a triumphant return to the JOYCE THEATER on New York City’s West Side, the company’s home in NYC for more than a decade.
Courtesy of Trinity Irish Dance Company
We begin with COMMUNION, sparse and lovely, using silence and space to connect with the audience, COMMUNION becomes the cord that connects us to this entire program. Beginning with the violin work of Jake James, everything we will see this evening, resilience, culture, and celebration is encapsulated within COMMUNION.
It wasn’t long before I heard my uncle’s voice in my head. He lived in Ireland for many years ( Limerick and Cork were his treasured cities,) and he never tired of critiquing Irish representation in American culture. What I heard was his voice saying:
“Well, that’s REAL Irish!”
But this isn’t just a celebration of an ancestry that many of us, as Americans share, it’s a celebration of life and the resilience it takes to carry our story forward. The first half of the program ends with THE SASH, a multi-media presentation that speaks to this power of memory and resilience.
Courtesy of Trinity Irish Dance Company
Although the program is presented as dance, TIDC also uses live music as well as the aforementioned film. The live band, anchored by Brendon O’Shea, and featuring the guitar and bass work of Chris Devlin and Steven Rutledge adds another thread to the tapestry of this celebration. All of this festivity bouncing along upon the rhythms of Toby Elliott. The addition of the live band really becomes the bridge between the performers and the audience.
“Welcome to our living room.” O’Shea says, early in the evening. That’s what the program offers; the very disappearance of the boundaries between performer and audience. In celebrating culture and resilience, the program reminds us that community becomes the very foundation that anchors us all.
Courtesy of Trinity Irish Dance Company
Located in the CHELSEA neighborhood THE JOYCE THEATER is the perfect home for a company like TIDC. Since 1982 THE JOYCE has offered both established and emerging talent, and has dedicated itself to making dance accessible. Located in a former movie theater the space feels simultaneously roomy, yet intimate. It feels purposely designed to dissolve the boundaries between performer and audience. The art-deco flourishes throughout the theater honor the past of the building, and make the theater experience personal and familiar.
Trinity Irish Dance Chicago (©Todd Rosenberg
In its return to the Joyce theater, TRINITY IRISH DANCE COMPANY offers us more than just an evening of traditional Irish dance, it offers us community and connection. It gives us the opportunity to celebrate the bonds of our shared stories, and the joy we create in offering our tales to others.