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Dance Expression, UK - November
2006
ABSORBING. SUPERLATIVE. FASCINATING.
Devine is a performer of outstanding
virtuosity and originality.
By Kathrine Sorley Walker
Tucked away at a typical Fringe venue,
Baby Belly 1 Off the Cowgate, the absorbing and
immensely enjoyable show TapEire played to packed
houses
A superlative and internationally
acclaimed trio - the dancer James Devine, the fiddler-composer
Ashley MacIsaac and the multi-percussionist Dave
Boyd - collaborated in a perfectly planned and cherishable
enetertainment of complementary skills.
Devine 29 years old, born in ireland
and now living in Edinburgh, is a performer of outstanding
virtuosity and originality. His inventiveness in
uniting Irish traditional dance and tap rhythms
is endlessly fascinating, incorporating all manner
of stamping, jigging, and zapateado elements in
sequences of his own devising.
Equally versatile in their own disciplines
are MacIsaac and Boyd. MacIsaac, a Nova Scotian,
has a pioneering daring in mixing musical styles
while Boyd can conjure up sounds and rhythms from
all manner of improbable objects.
The live action is cleverly paralleled
in projected film; and film and photographs supply
the context of the growth of Irish dance through
social Ceilis, teaching organisations to a life
in the theatre.
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