Concert

‘Warm, funny, respectful, irreverent.’  
Irish Times

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A NEW DANCE-THEATRE SHOW INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OF TOMMIE POTTS. 

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2020 Bessie Award Nomination for Outstanding Production (New York).
2018 Gradam Comharcheoil TG4 Award Winner.

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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.

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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.

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PERFORMANCES

RTE Televised Gala, The Waterfront, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Dansens Hus, Stockholm, Sweden
Baryshnikov Arts Centre, New York, USA
Performing Arts Festival, Groningen, Holland
Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland
The Pit, Barbican, Dance Umbrella, London
CND, Centre National de la Danse, Paris, France
MA Scène Nationale Pays de Montbéliard, France
La Comète, Scène Nationale de Châlons-en-Champagne, France
Project Arts Centre, Dublin Dance Festival, Ireland
Kilkenny Arts Festival, Ireland

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CREATIVE TEAM

Creation: Colin Dunne, Sinéad Rushe, Mel Mercier
Direction: Sinéad Rushe
Performance: Colin Dunne
Sound design and composition: Mel Mercier
Lighting design: Colin Grenfell
Video design: Jeffrey Weeter
Production: Maura O’Keeffe