Irish dancers here Saturday

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The world champion dance company that helped lead to the success of other Irish
dance programs, will step-dance its way across Warriner Auditorium to open Central
Michigan University’s 2000-01 Artists Course series.
The Trinity Irish Dance Co., an award-winning troupe founded by artistic director
Mark Howard in 1990—five years before the “Riverdance” craze began—will
perform at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets, which cost $25, $17 and $10, are available at the Central Box Office
on the lower level of the Bovee University Center or by calling (517) 774-3000
or (888) CMU-0111 (toll free).
“The Trinity Irish Dance Co., considered one of the premiere dance troupes,
was the first American company to win the world championship of Irish dance in
Ireland,” said Robert Ebner, director of University Events, in a press release.
“They put on a very energetic and colorful show that features intricate costumes,
elegant movements and a sophisticated form of synchronized dancing.”
For more than a decade, the Trinity Irish Dance Co. has pushed the boundaries
of traditional Irish step-dancing, infusing it with elements of ballet, tap, modern
dance and world rhythms to create a new genre.
The appeal of the dance troupe is its ability to mix the mechanical and artificial
qualities of step dancing with solid dramatic storytelling, according to Heidi
Weiss, dance critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, in a press release.
Irish dancing, the precursor of tap, consists of a nearly immobile upper body—arms
held tightly at the side—and elaborate footwork with kicks, rhythmic dancing
and ballet stepping.
A three-piece band on guitar, uilleann pipes and “bodhran,” or Irish
drum, accompany the dancers.
“For dancers so skilled in the peculiar rigors of Irish style, they have
amazing range,” wrote Tom Strini, dance critic for the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel, in a press release. “They often dance with arms in the traditional,
straight-down position. But almost as often, Howard frees the arms for rhythmic,
semaphoric gestures or softer, more expressive ones, to which the dancers bring
sharp clarity or rounded subtlety.”
Howard launched the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance, which trained dancers for
competition, in 1979. After the troupe won an unprecedented 13 world championship
titles and five gold medals, he changed the focus from competition to performance.
His progressive company pushed the traditional envelope of Irish dance to incorporate
production numbers, narrative stories and the chorus line staging now synonymous
with “Riverdance” and Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance.”
In 1990, the Chicago-based troupe won the world championship medal for the historical
drama “Grania O’Malley,” and as a result began to make national
television and media appearances, including an appearance on “The Tonight
Show” with Johnny Carson.
More world championships followed for both the group and its founder.
In 1994, Howard was named one of Irish American Magazine’s Top 100 Irish-Americans
for his innovative work in Irish dance. His work was featured in the ABC special,
“About Us: The Dignity of Children Project,” hosted by Oprah Winfrey,
and has been seen on such shows as “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,”
“Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” “Good Morning America,”
“CBS This Morning,” and “Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.”
The Trinity Irish Dance Co. Premeired at New York’s Joyce Theater in 1997.
Since that time, the group has appeared at major halls and auditoriums throughout
the world, including Austria, Canada and Switzerland and in New York, Chicago
and Vail in the United States.