#Feerochie

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Aberdeen and visiting artist Ultan O’Brien

Last weekend I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to Aberdeen for three days of step dance workshops and a performance hosted by Jennifer Oag and Feerochie. Aberdeen was the first Scottish city I was invited to teach in back in 2007 and it felt wonderful to look around the room while I was teaching and see some of the same folks present that were in that first workshop! Jennifer was an incredibly welcoming host, even constructing a sprung floor at the Foodstory Café for the Saturday evening concert featuring Feerochie, Kai Sakurai, Wallace Calvert, Janet Lees, Toby Bennett, Anita Dortova, and myself! Thanks to all who attended the show and the masterclasses at the Academy of Expressive Arts on step dance technique, “dancing the tune,” and percussive dance improvisation!

(Feerochie rehearses at the Academy of Expressive Arts before the Saturday evening concert in Aberdeen)

(Class photo during weekend step dance workshops in Aberdeen at the Academy of Expressive Arts)

(Performing on the bespoke sprung floor at the beautiful Foodstory Café in Aberdeen - a delicious zero-waste dining and event space!)

(A final bow at the performance at Foodstory Café in Aberdeen)

Following my return from Aberdeen, I hosted visiting artist Ultan O’Brien at the University of Edinburgh’s Pleasance Studios for four days of development. A fiddler, violist, and composer based in Dublin, I’ve been interested in Ultan’s work for several years, both as a soloist and with his band Slow Moving Clouds. We’ve worked together in teaching roles before during the Leitrim Dance Project and had one period of duo development last year, however, I was really excited Ultan was up for visiting the University of Edinburgh to spend some concentrated time improvising, creating, and conversing. Here’s his version of The Rakes of Kildare...

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(The Rakes of Kildare with fiddler Ultan O’Brien, recorded at the University of Edinburgh’s Pleasance Dance Studios last weekend)

Among the pieces we worked on together, Ultan’s version of Caisleán An Óir (in Irish, “The Golden Castle”) provided a unique opportunity to highlight the AABB structure shared by so much traditional dance music from Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, Canada, and Appalachia. I’m often thinking about listeners for whom this music (and this dance) might blur together unintelligibly. Admittedly, the nuances are subtle: a “B” part of a tune might begin higher in the instrument’s register, one step might begin with a “pickup” a beat before the bar, and it usually all happens so fast! However, I believe that music and movement can work together to help make these nuances - arguably the thing that makes traditional music and dance what they are - legible. As a dancer who works with traditional music, I’m hoping, as one reviewer so flatteringly put it, to be “an eye-opener for the ears.” (1)

During our time in the studio last week, Ultan and I imagined a device which would hopefully allow the AABB form of the the tune (sometimes called “the tune and the turn”) to be made clear through movement. The plan was for me to follow an imaginary line back and forth through the space while turning (”the tune, and the turn”), changing direction every eight bars in tandem with the phrases of the melody. As the tune progressed, gradually I would improvise phrases of footwork imitating the melody, departing from the original turning motif but continuing tracing the path of that imaginary line. It sounded simple enough. In practice, however, once I attempted to depart from the original motif (step, toe, turn, step toe, turn) I found it extremely difficult to maintain both the linearity and the constraint of changing direction every eight bars. 

In attempting this, I was reminded of something my dance teacher, contemporary Irish dancer Colin Dunne, once said: “discipline provides a pleasure.” In this case, the discipline of following the architecture of the melody of Caisleán An Óir, explicating the tune visually, provided a unique challenge. I was also reminded of Belgian contemporary dancer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s��piece ‘Fase’ to Steve Reich’s 'Violin Phase,’ as performed at MoMA in 2011. Her version of this pleasure-providing-discipline used sand to trace the trajectory of her movement. Though, by her own admission, this required a rigorous clarity for the lines to be visible. “It’s difficult,” she confides, “to hit the spot.” 

(Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker discusses, 'Violin Phase,' from her work, 'Fase: Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich' presented at MoMA as part of On Line: Drawing Throughout the Twentieth Century, January 22–23, 2011)

Using a simple task (”change direction every eight bars”) we found a way to illuminate one of the invisible but crucial idiomatic facets of traditional music and dance: its construction. “Simple, but not easy,” American clogger and choreographer Sharon Leahy once told me. And while I’m aware that I could take a nod from Anne Teresa in her clarity, the opportunity to work on this with Ultan’s exquisite playing was a total joy. Here’s the piece-in-progress. Stay tuned for more news about future development time and performances with Ultan O’Brien! 

(Caisleán An Óir work-in-progress with fiddler Ultan O’Brien, recorded at the University of Edinburgh’s Pleasance Dance Studios last weekend)

First Footing is a collaboration between dancer and dance researcher Nic Gareiss, the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, University of Edinburgh Moray House School of Education, and the School of Scottish Studies with support from Creative Scotland. For engagement opportunities check out the First Footing website.

(1) Paul O’Connor, “Back and Forth between Tradition and Abstraction at the Cobalt Café,” Last Night’s Fun (blog), February 8, 2011, https://lastnightsfun. wordpress.com/2011/02/08/899/.

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Pacific Northwest, Pendulum Band, Perth, Limerick and Aberdeen!

Hello from Aberdeen! What a week it’s been! I returned from the Pacific Northwest of the USA a week ago today after shows with phenomenal banjoist Allison de Groot. Allison’s playing is exquisite, rhythmically infectious, and simultaneously reveals both her deep listening to vintage banjo material and her spontaneously playful creative spirit. We performed our shows as low-tech as possible in an attempt to highlight what feels at the heart of our duo show: musical response and rapport between two individuals, and between banjo and feet. Allison has two new albums out that you won’t want to miss: a new CD with Bruce Molsky’s Mountain Drifters and a duo record with fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves! 

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(Allison de Groot and I performing Five Miles of Elm Wood at the Rose City Folk School in Portland, Oregon. Video by Leela Grace, who also opened the show with a beautiful set of original songs and banjo tunes!) 

I flew back to Edinburgh Friday and hopped right into soundcheck at the Queen’s Hall with Mairi Campbell and her Pendulum Band. Despite my being a little bleary from crossing continents and oceans, the Pendulum Band show was an exquisitely enjoyable evening. From her first step onstage, Mairi electrified the audience. She’s an absolute hero, dissolving boundaries of genre, performance, and instrument at every turn. Improvising onstage together through both sound and gesture, I was filled with energy and inspiration just being near her. It was made inextricably clear to all that night that Mairi is made of music. Her fantastic solo show Auld Lang Syne is currently touring Scotland! In it, Mairi sings, dances, plays, speaks, and is, frankly, utterly captivating. Check out the preview below and visit her website for tour dates.

(Mairi Campbell’s show Auld Lang Syne is on tour in Scotland now! Click here for tour dates!)

Sunday, I joined an intrepid contingent of artists, curators, and scholars to trundle from Edinburgh to the Perth Theatre by car for an event we called Casting a New Vision for Step Dance Education in Scotland: a Day of Conversation and Professional Development. The event was co-presented by the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House School of Education, Fèisean nan Gàidheal, and Horsecross Arts. In scheming up the proceedings, my co-organizers and I wanted it to feel like a day of delights, fuelling inspiration, encouragement, and solidarity. The programme was packed! The day included participatory step dance masterclasses, step dance teaching feedback sessions (in which three teachers taught short 10-minute classes and received constructive feedback from their peers), a seminar on safe and healthy dance teaching practice delivered by Wendy Timmons, director of the MSc in Dance Science and Education at the University of Edinburgh, an interview with Halifax-based step dancer Harvey Beaton via Skype, and facilitated group discussions around support and sustainability with Michelle Brady, coordinator of the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and Nicola Simpson, senior development officer for Fèisean nan Gàidheal. In addition to programming designed to nourish, enrich, and continue the training needs of this unique group of traditional arts educators, step dance teachers from across Scotland also had the rare opportunity to connect with their colleagues and cast a new vision for sustainability, preservation, creativity, and community-building for traditional dance in Scotland. Delegates from Inverness, Aberdeen, Islay, South Uist, Midlothian, Skye, Perth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dunfermline, and Fort William were in attendance. It was both incredibly exciting and immensely humbling for me to be in the presence of so many knowledgeable and devoted traditional arts educators. There were so many lively discussions, connections, and conversations around step dance education that I hope will continue!! Driving home, I felt invigorated, inspired by the rich traditions and inspiringly devoted dancers here in Scotland, and filled with hope. 

(Delegates at Casting a New Vision for Step Dance Education in Scotland: a Day of Conversation and Professional Development, Perth Theatre, 24 February)

On Monday morning I flew to Shannon, Ireland where I had the pleasure of taking part in Common Treads, a two-day event celebrating diversity within percussive dance styles from Ireland, Britain and North America at the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick. Convened by Dr. Mats Melin and Dr. Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain, the event assembled a remarkable summit of dancers including Liam Scanlon, Marianne Larose, Jimmy Smith, Toby Bennett, and myself. It was wonderful to return to the Irish World Academy, a space that was incredibly formative for me as place of study, of collaboration, of exploration, and of tremendous possibility. The building itself was often referred to as a “house of light and welcome” by the late founder Mícheál Ó’ Súilleabháin (1) Made of glass, brass, and sparkling mosaic, it beckons partitioners and scholars across the Shannon River from the UL campus to collapse the false binary of research and art, the practical and the poetic, in favour of a more holistically-integrated encounter. I had the distinct pleasure of being present for all of the masterclasses and what a feast it was: from Liam Scanlon’s satisfyingly percussive earthiness, Marianne Larose’s grace, strength, and dexterity, Jimmy Smith’s magical fool-the-eye, trick-of-the-leg winking insouciance, and Toby Bennett’s elegant, buoyant, bracingly articulate clog dancing. I spent my session sharing percussive dance vocabulary as well as speaking about utilizing these steps with the musicians that I have the pleasure to engage with in making concerts. The event was very special indeed, allowing me to reconnected with mentors, be in conversation with colleagues, as well as engage with the bright and extremely talented students at the Irish World Academy. 

(Working with the students at the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick, photo by Mats Melin)

These are rich times indeed. And it’s not over yet! TONIGHT, I travel by train to Aberdeen for a weekend of percussive dance workshops and performances organized by Jennifer Oag and Feerochie featuring Kae Sakurai, Aneta Dortova, and Toby Bennett! Hope to see you in that great Granite city this weekend! It all kicks off tomorrow night! 

Saturday, 2 March: Percussive Dance Performance with Nic Gareiss & Friends at FoodStory, 13-5 Thistle St., Aberdeen, 8 pm. More info here.

Sunday 3 March: workshops at Academy of Expressive Arts, 8 Gaelic Lane, Aberdeen:

12-1 pm Introduction to Scottish Step Dance with Kae Sakurai, more info here.

1:15-2:15 pm Dance the Tune with Nic Gareiss, more info here.

2:30-3:30 pm Lakeland Stepping with Toby Bennett, more info here.

3:45-4:45 pm Sean-nós Dance with Aneta Dortova, more info here.

First Footing is a collaboration between dancer and dance researcher Nic Gareiss, the Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland, University of Edinburgh Moray House School of Education, and the School of Scottish Studies with support from Creative Scotland. For engagement opportunities check out the First Footing website.

(1) Comhrá: A Conversation with Mícheál Ó’ Súilleabháin, by Anya Peterson Royce, COMHAIMSEARTHA: Of Our Times, Spring 2019, p. 8