A new dance-theatre show with Colin Dunne in collaboration with composer and sound designer Mel Mercier, based on the music of Irish fiddler Tommie Potts.
Winner of Gradam Comharcheoil TG4 2018 Award for Musical
Collaboration. The televised gala concert and award ceremony took
place in The Waterfront, Belfast on Sunday, 4th February 2018.
The show will tour internationally in the autumn 2019.
Past dates:
24-26 August, 2018:
Performing Arts Festival, Groningen, Holland
10-12 October, 2018:
Tramway, Glasgow
17-20 October, 2018:
The Pit, Barbican, Dance Umbrella, London
March 28th & 29th, 2017:
CND, Centre National de la Danse, Paris, France
May 10th:
MA Scène Nationale Pays de Montbéliard, France
May 12th:
La Comète, Scène Nationale de Châlons-en-Champagne, France
May 18th – 20th
Dublin Dance Festival, Ireland
http://www.dublindancefestival.ie/
August 18-19th:
Kilkenny Arts Festival
Warm, funny, respectful and irreverent
Irish Times - Read full review →
Deviant, playful and melancholic
Irish Times Feature - Read full review →
You can listen to the post show discussion at the Barbican Theatre in London as part of Dance Umbrella 2018 with Sinéad, Colin and Mel here:
In this new solo work, Irish dance artist Colin Dunne confronts the music of virtuoso traditional Irish fiddle player, Tommie Potts (1912-1988). A singular and complex figure in the history of Irish traditional music, Potts rarely played in public, and his 1972 album, The Liffey Banks, was the only recording of his music released commercially before his death. This iconic solo fiddle album reflects the complex contradictions in Potts’s musical career: his deep appreciation of traditional music alongside a desire to break it apart. Although renowned for its delicate, melancholic and playful qualities, the album’s rhythmical irregularity renders it practically impossible to dance to.
Collaborating with Out of Time director, Sinéad Rushe, and composer/sound designer, Mel Mercier (Drama Desk Award Winner and Tony nominee), Dunne sets out to ‘dance’ this controversial album in a concert like no other.
Armed with an LP copy of The Liffey Banks, a tape recorder, portable speakers and some sheets of flooring, Dunne embodies the lonesome and deviant nature of these recordings in his innovative style that is as evocative and idiosyncratic as Potts’s own.
Contact Maura O’Keeffe. okeeffemaura@gmail.com.
CO-PRODUCERS: Once Off Productions, CND Centre National De La Danse Paris, MA Scène Nationale – Pays de Montbéliard, La Comète Scène Nationale de Châlons-en–Champagne, Dublin Dance Festival. SUPPORTED BY: The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Limerick City Arts Office and Dance Limerick. FUNDED BY: The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. INTERNATIONAL TOURING SUPPORT BY Culture Ireland.
