colin dunne riverdance

[37][38] Colin Dunne briefly returned to Riverdance in July 2002 to perform his original choreographed piece "Trading Taps" at New York City's One World Jam at Radio City Music Hall. “This is the opposite of that.”. [19], "Riverdance: The Show" opened at the Point Theatre in Dublin on 9 February 1995. 2 position in the UK charts, moving to No. [41], Riverdance continues to be performed all over the world, in a diminished format and in smaller venues. By overwhelming public demand, the run was extended twice, making a box office record of 151 sold-out shows at the venue. [42], On 21 July 2013, a record was set when a line of 1,693 dancers from 44 countries danced to Riverdance on a bridge overlooking the River Liffey, led by Jean Butler and Padraic Moyles. 11/08/2019 Tell your friends. In previous shows like “Out of Time” and “Edges of Light,” Mr. Dunne has manipulated these intricate rhythmic patterns by dancing barefoot on a variety of surfaces or distorting the sound through electronics. It was a particularly exciting event as Colin Dunne made his first appearance with Riverdance since leaving the show in 1998. Sets have therefore been simplified and some numbers contain fewer performers than in past productions (such as those seen on the Live from New York City (1996) and Live from Geneva (2002) DVDs). [34], On 2 October 1996, Riverdance kicked off its US tour at Radio City Music Hall, christening their new US company the Lee (after Cork's main river), while the company continuing to perform in the UK was dubbed the Liffey (after Dublin's main river). [23] Later that month, Riverdance returned, by popular demand, to the Point Theatre for a six-week sell-out run. The sheer power of this production is overwhelming. (The show is a coproduction of the Baryshnikov center and the Irish Arts Center.). When he first heard a recording of Mr. Potts’s fiddle playing, not long after leaving “Riverdance,” he found the music “deeply esoteric,” he said. The performance is often considered the most well known interval act in Eurovision Song Contest history. The performance was transmitted to an estimated 300 million viewers worldwide and earned a standing ovation from the packed theatre of 4,000 people. 1 right after the Eurovision debut, staying there for 18 weeks—the longest amount of time a song has ever topped the Irish chart. The melody Mr. Dunne, 51, has just played on the piano is lighthearted, with a distinct bounce. Colin Dunne Makes Quiet Music Now. The major difference might be in their looks with Dunne a little, goateed black-haired guy while Flatley is the clean-shaven blond. [44][45][46][47] In September 2020, it was announced that Pierce Brosnan, Lilly Singh, Jermaine Fowler, Pauline McLynn, Aisling Bea, John Kavanagh and Brendan Gleeson would feature as voice actors in the film. If you’re a follower of Irish traditional dance, you may recognize him — from 1995 to 1998 he co-starred in the megashow “Riverdance.” But he left all that behind long ago and has spent the last 18 years creating intimate, exploratory evenings like this one. “This here is a hornpipe called ‘The Blackbird,’ ” he explains. But then, he might have made an exception, just this once, for this particular dancer. No contract was ever signed—despite media reports indicating he had—because Flatley and his management would not agree to terms. Potts, who is a cult figure among some Irish traditional music fans and is ignored or disliked by others, is Mr. Dunne’s absent partner in this hourlong show, which comes to the Baryshnikov Arts Center this week. The piece was performed, with accompanying ballet dancers, during the interval of the contest, and later released as a Planxty single. Negotiations reached a stalemate by 2 October,[25] and with 21 hours to go before the show's opening, Doherty opted to sack her star, replacing him with Colin Dunne, nine-times World Irish Dancing Champion. [6], The song "Riverdance" was released as a single featuring Anúna and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra[12][13] and entered the Irish Singles Chart at No. Colin Dunne Makes Quiet Music Now. Mainly, though, the conversation occurs through movement. The show was later extended until the middle of January 1997. [27] To make matters worse for the producers, Jean Butler turned up days before opening night with her leg in a cast and on crutches, and was unable to perform. [3] Thirteen years later, Whelan was invited to do the intermission piece for another Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, and composed Riverdance. The five-week run was sold out within three days of the tickets going on sale,[7] with tickets reaching record sales of over 120,000. Dunne was approached by Riverdance through American tap dancer Tariq Winston, with whom he developed a number called "Trading Taps" for the show. Her Riverdance costar Colin Dunne has danced with many contemporary companies, including Fabulous Beast’s hit The Bull, and last year featured in 20 Dancers … In the 1980s, it was difficult to feel at ease with being both English and Irish—you felt like you had to choose which side you were on. [7] The performance is often considered the most well known interval act in Eurovision Song Contest history. [1], Riverdance is rooted in a three-part suite of baroque-influenced traditional music called Timedance. “He has a beautiful way of hitting the floor with great precision, but without slamming the floor, which is very rare. I grew up in Birmingham, England, to Irish parents, and dance was wrapped up in my second-generation Irish identity. See full bio » “It’s monotonous.”. He is known for his work on Dancing on Dangerous Ground (1999), The Nation's Health (1983) and Riverdance: Live à l'Arena de Genève (2001). Once a star of Riverdance, Colin Dunne is widely recognized as a prodigiously talented dancer in the Irish tradition. Naturally, not everyone in the Irish dance world has warmed to this rather quiet, cerebral approach, as he is the first to acknowledge. [48], In the spirit of traditional sessions, the musicians play on stage without sheet music. [24] At the end of September 1995, a contract dispute arose between Flatley and Riverdance. Jean was persuaded back by Colin Dunne, the man who took over from Flatley in Riverdance and whom Jean has no hesitation in hailing as "the greatest Irish dancer in the world". Colin gratefully acknowledges support from Limerick City and County Council for … Jan 07, 2020. The performance was transmitted to an estimated 300 million viewers worldwide[5][6] and earned a standing ovation from the packed theatre of 4,000 people. As a result, Dunne paired up with original Eurovision troupe member Eileen Martin for the opening night,[28] as they looked to salvage the show and make a name for themselves. “I think it’s the deepest kind of listening I’ve done,” he said, “and it’s not even just listening with the ears, but with the skin and bones and muscles.”, Some see this looseness as a way of reconnecting Irish dance to its past. A professor at the University of Limerick, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, gave him access to a large archive of informal recordings and interviews, which Mr. Dunne and his sound designer Mel Mercier wove into a score containing not only passages of Mr. Potts’s playing but also his voice. [2] At the time, Bill Whelan and Dónal Lunny composed the music, augmenting the Irish folk band Planxty with a rock rhythm section of electric bass and drums and a four-piece horn section. “I quite like a bit of repetition,” Mr. Dunne retorts, with a dry chortle. In April 1995, video release of Riverdance went straight to No. The Opening Ceremony performance also featured the longest troupe line ever seen in an Irish dance show, with over 100 dancers. “There’s something to what people say about folk music,” says Mr. Potts in a recording. Having found an affinity with Mr. Potts’s unconventional playing style, Mr. Dunne decided to make a work in which he could engage the music on his own terms, through dancing but also through a kind of conversation across time and space. The official website of dancer Colin Dunne, Limerick Arts Bursary Award 2020. he co-starred in the megashow “Riverdance, A professor at the University of Limerick, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Jean Butler, his former “Riverdance” co-star. [49], Eurovision performance and aftermath of interval act (1994), Flatley's departure and second London run (October 1995), Continued success in Ireland and London (March–May 1996), Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest, "Amazing facts about the Irish dance phenomenon "Riverdance, "Riverdance Unveiled at Eurovision in Dublin 1994", "THE MARKETING 100: 'RIVERDANCE': MOYA DOHERTY", "Eurovision's Greatest Hits: Riverdance To Perform", "From worst to Riverdance: A comprehensive ranking of Ireland's Eurovision interval acts", "What became of the Riverdance Queen? 1 in the Irish charts. It’s hard to imagine a dancer finding his or her way through this fog of notes. 'Riverdance' Was Years Ago. His quick, complex footwork highlights the endless ways in which a dancer of his brilliance can subdivide a beat. He was an outsider and an insider all at once. Mr. Dunne plays excerpts from Mr. Potts’s recordings and dances to them, sometimes barefoot, sometimes in sneakers and also in traditional Irish reinforced shoes. Nor does he maintain the rigid upright stance that has become the norm in Irish dance. Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times. “I had absolutely no interest in it.”, But as his own exploration into the sounds of and approaches to Irish dancing deepened, that changed. [43], In February 2020, an animated feature film inspired by Riverdance was announced, titled Riverdance: The Animated Adventure. Riverdance was later performed as an interval act at both the Congratulati… He lays down different surfaces to further alter the sound, which ranges from almost silent, to whisper-like, to sharp and dry. Jean Butler explains why she left the limelight", "The history of the Official Irish Charts", "Riverdance for Rwanda released on 11 August 1994", "Riverdance at Royal Variety Performance 28 November 1994", "Twenty one stomping facts about the Riverdance phenomenon", "Lord of 'Lord of the Dance' gives his side of the story", "Trading Taps at the Royal Variety Performance 20 November 1995", "Riverprancer; JEAN BUTLER LIFTS THE LID ON LIFE WITH RIVERDANCE CO-STAR MICHAEL FLATLEY", "DANCE REVIEW; With Fast Feet and Fiddles, An Irish Perennial Returns", "Walter Sundance Freeman and Colin Dunne at Radio City Music Hall", "Colin Dunne joins Riverdance for One World Jam in Radio City Music Hall", "Riverdance at the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics, Dublin 2003", "Riverdance World Record longest line 21 July 2013", "Cinesite to Produce Nine Animated Movies in Montreal in Five Years", "OMG! After a falling-out with "Riverdance… [21] A day later, Riverdance opened at The Apollo in London for a sell-out four-week run. “The music is pumping, you’re pumping, everybody’s pumping, and the audience wants to be pumped — the whole thing is based on a kind of adrenaline rush,” he said via Skype from Limerick, in southwest Ireland, where he lives. [30], Following phenomenal success in Dublin and London in 1995, Riverdance travelled to the United States for the first time in March 1996. Since then, the show has visited over 450 venues worldwide and been seen by over 25 million people, making it one of the most successful dance productions in the world. “He’s probably the most rhythmic Irish dancer there has ever been,” a former “Riverdance” colleague said of Mr. Dunne. Like my grandfather used to say, ‘He has a beautiful touch.’”. Jean Butler and Colin Dunne were the best thing about ''Riverdance: The Show'' when that Irish dance extravaganza was first seen at Radio City Music Hall in 1996. It is as if every inch of his body was absorbed in the music; there’s no space left for flash. The two men, born almost six decades apart, are in many ways kindred spirits — both working within the Irish tradition but chafing against its conventions, both happiest plying their trade on their own, outside the mainstream. Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. There will never be a winner in the Flantley vs Dunne debate, which is perhaps appropriate, as the true star of the show is the music and dance, ably assisted by Colin Dunne, Jean Butler, Katie McMahon, et al. [28][36] Then in June 1998, Colin Dunne left Riverdance to begin work on a new project with Butler – Dancing on Dangerous Ground. About halfway through his one-man show “Concert,” dancer Colin Dunne sits down at an upright piano and plunks out a tune. 2 positions for the next seven months, becoming the all-time best-selling music video in the UK. Timedance was composed, recorded and performed for the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted by Ireland. It is perhaps ironic that Mr. Potts, who found playing for dancers distasteful, should be the subject of an evening of dance. Colin Dunne works within the Irish tradition but pushes its boundaries. Colin Dunne is a leading figure in the world of traditional Irish dance. [31] On 13 March, the show opened at the legendary Radio City Music Hall for the first of eight sold-out performances over five days. As one report put it, lead dancers Michael Flatley and Jean Butler "transformed the previously chaste and reserved traditional dance form into something else entirely",[11] and after witnessing the initial enthusiasm for the performance in Ireland, husband and wife production team Moya Doherty and John McColgan decided to invest over $1 million into producing a full-length show. Colin Dunne is proof that life can go on after Riverdance. Perhaps best known internationally for his performances and choreography in Riverdance and Dancing on Dangerous Ground, he has been forging a new creative path since his time as artist in residence at University of Limerick, where he completed an MA in contemporary dance in 2002. “Concert” is Mr. Dunne’s effort to bridge the physical and temporal distance between them, to imagine what might have happened had they had the chance to meet and work together in real life. Current productions are geared towards smaller theatres, whereas past productions have been performed in large theatres and arenas. Sometimes he’ll be halfway through a tune before you recognize it.”. [14][15] It is currently the second highest-selling single of all time in Ireland, behind only Elton John's 1997 double A-side "Candle in the Wind 1997"/"Something About the Way You Look Tonight". Colin Dunne (born 8 May 1968) is a British-Irish leading figure in the world of traditional Irish dance, as well as a theatre actor and contemporary dancer. Whelan had also produced EastWind, a 1992 album by Planxty member Andy Irvine with Davy Spillane, which fused Irish and Balkan folk music and influenced the genesis of Riverdance. [21] Behind Doherty and McColgan, and composer Bill Whelan, the show starred Flatley and Butler, and featured many of the original Eurovision dance troupe. ‘Riverdance’ Was Years Ago. [33], A number of cast departures occurred following the halcyon period of early 1996. He seems intent on moving as far as possible from the clichés of Irish dance, an art form that has come to be defined by competitions on the one hand and large-scale spectacles on the other. “This here is a hornpipe called ‘The Blackbird,’” … With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval performance act during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, featuring Irish dancing champions Jean Butler, Michael Flatley and the vocal ensemble Anúna. Shortly afterwards, husband and wife production team John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded it into a stage show, which opened in Dublin on 9 February 1995. The second version, Mr. Dunne explains, is a transcription of the way the Irish fiddler Tommy Potts, who died in 1988, played the tune. “He needed a sense of warmth around him.” By playing alone, in the cocoon of someone’s home, Mr. Potts could follow his own musical byways without having to make compromises. But he found that by leaving things open he was able to keep the connection to the music alive every time he goes onstage. His left hand, in particular, seems to comment on the music, like a cymbal in a drum set. “Colin holds his body in a way that harkens back to an earlier generation,” said Linda Murray, the curator of the dance division at the New York Public Library, whose own grandfather was a fiddler and Irish dancer in Dublin. My relationship with dance has been an ever-shifting thing. “He’s probably the most rhythmic Irish dancer there has ever been,” Jean Butler, his former “Riverdance” co-star, who has also engaged in experimentation within the genre, said. This experimentation found its natural counterpart in the flights of fancy in Mr. Potts’s fiddling. [16], A video benefiting war-torn Rwanda raised $500,000 for the cause and sold 100,000 copies in a week. [27], In March 2000, the show moved to Broadway's Gershwin Theatre and featured lead dancers Pat Roddy and Eileen Martin of the Shannon company, and singers Brian Kennedy and Tsidii Le Loka. But those nationalistic agendas fell away around 20 years ago when I moved to Ireland after performing in Riverdance. Flatley claimed the dispute had nothing to do with money, but rather creative control of his own choreography. About halfway through his one-man show “Concert,” the dancer Colin Dunne sits down at an upright piano and plunks out a tune. Mr. Dunne plays excerpts from Mr. Potts’s recordings and dances to them, sometimes barefoot, sometimes in sneakers and finally in traditional Irish reinforced shoes, which produce a more distinct tapping sound. As part of the Kennedy Center’s Ireland 100: Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts & Culture festival, Colin Dunne, a celebrated figure in the Irish step dance community, brought his critically acclaimed solo Out of Time, directed by Sinead Rushe, to a DC audience.In Out of Time, Dunne, not surprisingly, plays with the notion of time.Yet his work does more than simply reflect on the … Colin Dunne was born on May 8, 1968 in Birmingham, England. [17][18], In November 1994, Riverdance, the original seven-minute version, was invited to perform in London at the prestigious Royal Variety Performance in the presence of Prince Charles. [6] On 11 August 1994, in response to the Rwandan genocide of May/June 1994, the RTÉ video 'Riverdance for Rwanda' was launched to help raise money for Irish relief agencies in Rwanda. “This here is a hornpipe called ‘The Blackbird,’” he explains. The cast is similar to the first Riverdance with the main exception of Colin Dunne replacing Michael Flatley as the featured dancer. [8][9][10] Riverdance was later performed as an interval act at both the Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest (2005) and Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits (2015) events. The Riverdance Flying Squad’s latest appearance was in New York this July to perform in Radio City Music Hall, as part of the ‘One World Jam’ Concert, a new initiative by 7-Eleven. Then he plays a different version of the same tune: The notes slither and crash against each together as the rhythm becomes jagged, almost random. Like flamenco or tap, Irish dance is a percussive dance, defined by the intricate and exciting ways the performer’s feet hit the floor. His back and hips are loose, and his arms move freely. There's a Riverdance animated movie on the way", "Riverdance to be made into an animated film", "Pierce Brosnan, Lilly Singh, Brendan Gleeson to Voice 'Riverdance: The Animated Adventure' Feature (Exclusive)", Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Cats: Complete Original Broadway Cast Recording, Les Misérables: The Complete Symphonic Recording, Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs Of Leiber And Stoller, An Comhdháil na Múinteoirí le Rincí Gaelacha, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riverdance&oldid=1000312936, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Michael Flatley Flute Solo – Whispering Winds, Yolanda González Sobrado (flamenco dancer), This page was last edited on 14 January 2021, at 16:19. That winning combination is why PBS executives are negotiating to obtain yet another Riverdance special, featuring British-born dancer Colin Dunne in a performance from last year's U.S. tour. It makes you want to dance. “You basically learn the technique by learning and perfecting the steps,” he explained. [23], On 17 July 1995, Riverdance performed at London's Royal College of Music in the presence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and Princess Margaret. Each production company is named after an Irish river: Liffey, Lee, Lagan, Avoca, Shannon, Boyne, Corrib, Foyle, Moy and Bann. Congratulations are in order. [20] Earlier that month, tickets went on sale for "Riverdance: The Show", exceeding IR£1million in three weeks. “He was never comfortable performing in public,” the prominent Irish fiddler Paddy Glackin, who collaborated with John Cage on the score for “Roaratorio,” said in a phone call from Dublin. Jean Butler, choreographer, Irish dancer, actress, and her dancing partner Colin Dunne among other luminaries who created and performed in the original Riverdance are also featured. [34] After 23 performances at Radio City between 2 October and 20 October, the Lee company moved on to Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston,[32] as well as Detroit and Minneapolis. Colin Dunne is a leading figure in the world of traditional Irish dance. Both are extremely talented. The dancer is inspired by an iconoclastic fiddler in his new show, which rejects the clichés of Irish dance. Their choreography has not lost its original luster in this more intimate scaled down latest production. [26] Dunne, who had only just joined the cast and creative team of Riverdance, was initially invited to choreograph and perform the newly commissioned number "Trading Taps" with Tarik Winston. Riverdance was first performed during the seven-minute interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest at the Point Theatre in Dublin on 30 April 1994. The show attracted a television audience of 20 million, introducing Riverdance to a whole new set of fans. [2] In a book about Planxty (The Humours of Planxty, by Leagues O'Toole), Whelan says, "It was no mistake of mine to call it Riverdance because it connected absolutely to Timedance".[4]. 1 or No. With humor and a touch of good-natured acerbity, the two converse and even argue over the finer points of their craft. “To be honest, very few people from the world of traditional dance would come to see this work,” he said, “I don’t really feel like part of that community, I guess.” Like Tommy Potts, he has taken his own path, choosing the freedom to explore over playing to expectations. Colin Dunne Is in an "Intense Relationship with Dance" Colin Dunne. He has lost none of his speed or accent, though the dancing is less hard-charging now. 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