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The Chronicle Herald, Halifax, Canada - October 28, 2007
CELTIC MEETS PUNK IN TAPEIRE.
Devine showcases Irish culture with help from MacIsaac.
By Andrea Nemetz

James Devine will never forget seeing Ashley MacIsaac perform with the Chieftains in Dublin a decade ago.

"I was blown away by his energy on stage, his raw passion with the fiddle and his stepdancing. I thought if I ever have a show, that’s the guy I want to do it," says the man dubbed the world’s fastest dancer by the Guinness World Records.

So when Devine, a native of Ireland now living in Edinburgh, and a veteran of hit Celtic shows Lord of the Dance and Gaelforce, set about putting together his own dance show in February 2006, he e-mailed the Cape Breton fiddler extraordinaire to ask him if he wanted to take part.

As it happened, MacIsaac, whose 1995 album Hi!, How Are You Today, vaulted him to international prominence, was interested and flew over to Scotland for the month of August 2006 to take part in Devine’s TapEIRE, which sold out its entire run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and drew fantastic reviews.

"I’ve been a longtime fan of Ashley’s music and performing style," says Devine, from Oakville, Ont., where he is in the midst of a 15-city North American tour.

"I love that style of fiddle playing, it’s unique to Cape Breton, sister music to Scotland and Ireland. I like that attacking style and I wanted to bring that Cape Breton Celtic connection. No other Celtic dance show has that Cape Breton feel."

TapEIRE, which fuses jazz, hip-hop, punk and Celtic rhythms played by a three-piece band, is on stage at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax on Monday and the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay on Friday, before it heads to New York for a three-week Broadway run.

Devine and MacIsaac are joined by Paul Jennings, one of Scotland’s top percussionists, and harpist Phamie Gow, originally from Scotland and now based in Barcelona, who is also a pianist, plays the accordion and whistle, and sings.

The show is also multimedia-based with full slide projection and movies to create a backdrop.

What really distinguishes TapeEIRE from shows like Riverdance is that it doesn’t use the formula of big line dances, says Devine, who is the only dancer.

"I wanted to create something more stripped back, with more passion and energy to really showcase the art form," he says. "About 65 per cent of the show is structured and the other 35 per cent is improvised. Depending on the audience reaction, it can go anywhere."

While TapEIRE, created, choreographed and directed by Devine, takes a historical look at Celtic culture, travelling from the early "sean-nos" culture, through Ireland’s 17th- century dancing masters to 1980s competitions and modern freestyle shows, it is not the history of Ireland, as showcased in shows like Michael Flatley’s recent Celtic Tiger.

"It’s the roots and rhythm of Celtic culture, not things like the famine. We look at the art form and interpret it from a modern perspective. And it’s all based around rhythm."

Like MacIsaac, the 31-year-old Devine, who grew up in a small town in County Clare called Ardnacrusha, was a teenage prodigy.

His mother was a champion Irish dancer "with medals and silverware I was in awe of," he recalls. "She inspired me with her love of rhythm. She lost the power in her legs due to a tumour, but she would tap out the rhythms with her hands."

He began taking lessons at eight and by the age of 14, he achieved the highest honour bestowed on an Irish dancer by winning the Grand Slam — World, American, British, All-Ireland and Munster Title. In a competitive career that continued until the age of 16, he consecutively won three World, five American, three British, seven Munster and All-Ireland titles.

"That was a journey in itself," Devine muses. "Irish dance is very structured and we demonstrate that through the show."

While he enjoyed participating in worldwide tours of dance spectaculars, including dancing the lead role in Gaelforce, nothing gives greater satisfaction than creating something with your own inspiration and ideas.

"Having the opportunity to perform your work, your ideas, your choreography in front of a theatre audience and if they like what they see and give you great applause, there’s no greater opportunity."

And being a fan of Cape Breton music, he’s looking forward to going back to its source.

"I’ve been inspired by the music of the place, and I know the home crowd will be right behind Ashley. It will be rocking!"

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