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The Scotsman, UK - Aug 10,
2006
HUGELY TALENTED. PHENOMENAL.
Lights up the venue with
one rhythmic spectacle after another.
By Kelly Apter
WHEN you're the fastest tap dancer
in the world, you don't need to fret about art
or craft - people just want to watch you dance.
Clocking in at a startling 38 taps per second
(yes, it is possible), James Devine is the current
Guinness World Record holder. So he'd be forgiven
for putting together a show which was flashy,
tacky and all about him - in short, the complete
opposite of what you get with Tapeire.
What Devine has done instead is
get together with a multi-platinum-selling Cape
Breton fiddler and a hugely talented percussionist
from Ireland, and put them on a simple black stage.
Between them, the three men light up the dark
Baby Belly venue with one rhythmic spectacle after
another.
Three times World Irish Dance Champion
and a former Lord of the Dance performer, Devine
is phenomenal. He turns his back on the prerecorded
tapes of the big Irish dance shows, and has microphones
taped to his shoes so we can hear every tap -
there are a lot of them. Cameras dotted around
the stage capture those amazing feet from every
angle and relay them to a back screen.
Charting the history of Irish dance,
from the 17th-century masters through to the rigid
structures of modern-day competition, Tapeire
has a raw, casual style which belies the hard
work behind it. Devine has created his own genre,
Celtic tap, fusing the two art forms he loves
into one. Ashley MacIsaac plays his fiddle almost
as fast as Devine taps. And percussionist Dave
Boyd can conjure rhythm out of just about anything,
including a set of saucepans and a typewriter.
With performers of such a high standard,
it's natural to expect quality. What you don't
expect is the friendliness - the warmth shown
to the audience throughout the show. Boyd is a
natural crowd-pleaser, teasing out laughs at every
available opportunity, while the short films interspersed
through the performance have a charming home-movie
feel which draws us into this generous fold."
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