Living tradition

THE Cork Midsummer Festival opens at the Cork Opera House on June 21 with the critically acclaimed show, ‘Rian,’ created by musician Liam Ó Maonlaí of ‘The Hothouse Flowers’ fame and innovative choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan of ‘Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre Company.’

‘Rian’ is inspired by Ó Maonlaí’s 2005 debut solo album of the same name which means ‘mark’ or ‘trace’ in Irish.

The album is inspired by Sean Ó Riada’s 1969 concert which was recorded and released posthumously as ‘Ó Riada sa Gaiety.’ The show explores the tension and harmony between Irish traditional music and modern dance. Celtic sounds combine with elements of world music and influences from all over the globe. Eight dancers from multi-ethnic backgrounds and five musicians (including Ó Maonlaí) perform the show which received standing ovations at London’s Sadler’s Wells (a co-producer) last year.

Traditional Irish music is perfectly compatible with contemporary dance, says Ó Maonlaí. “If I’m listening to Irish music, I’m dancing in my head, doing a lot more than just tapping my feet. The dancers in ‘Rian’, who come from countries including India, Nigeria, the Ukraine, Finland, Ghana, Greece, have different relationships with their own cultures and would all have been educated in traditional dance.”

Ó Maonlaí traces the genesis of ‘Rian.’ He says that Keegan-Dolan was working with a South American artiste who suggested incorporating his Irish roots into his work. “A friend of mine working with Michael on one of his productions gave him my album. There was something about it that made sense to Michael. Two years passed before we eventually got to meet.”

The duo worked together on a number of fledgling projects. “We realised we could work together. We tossed around a few ideas and then Michael came back to me and said, ‘let’s do ‘Rian.’ He had gone on the trail of Ó Riada. He reckoned that if I was making so much noise about this guy, then he should know about his work. From there, everything flowed very easily. We booked a month in Shawbrook Dance School in Longford and the Black Box in Galway. Myself, Michael and the dancers indulged in music.

“I spoke at length about what music meant to me and what traditional music meant to me and my family. In Longford, we did a lot of playing, dancing and making music without any agenda. We sort of discovered our process as we went along. Michael would watch the dancers as they moved, zoning in on some of the moves. He would then get us to learn those moves which we had great fun naming. By the end of the month, we had accumulated 108 moves. In the third week, some of the musicians arrived and put together sets of traditional tunes.”

The show consists of three songs from the ‘Rian’ album. “The rest is arrangements of traditional tunes as well as some contemporary pieces. There’s a Malian piece which I learned from a singer in Northern Mali when I made the film, ‘The Mali Project’. There’s a harp piece called ‘Black Ink on a Wire’ with a solo dance by Louise Tanoto, a great dancer of Indo Chinese origin. There’s a piece called ‘Water Jar’ that features Louise Mochai who’s of Ghanaian origin. There’s also a piece called ‘The Moors’ which is in the mode of Middle Eastern and southern Spain flamenco style.”

Ó Maonlaí plays harpsichord and piano in the show. “The arrangements wouldn’t be unlike an Ó Riada show. Doing the show is a great experience. I have no doubts about it. Everybody is really happy to be in it.” Such is the success of ‘Rian’ that it has been invited to 15 cities and festivals around the world.

Keegan-Dolan, who has three Olivier Award nominations under his belt, says ‘Rian’ is very much “a celebratory and joyous show”. In his 2005 show, ‘The Bull’, the choreographer could be said to have lampooned ‘Riverdance’ and its various spin-offs, including ‘Lord of the Dance.’

“I was younger then and pretty angry. My main target was greed. It wasn’t popular to be targeting that and I got a fair bit of heat as a result. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with ‘Riverdance’. I think I was triggered by later interpretations and copies of ‘Riverdance’. Some of them were particularly trashy, superficial and offensive to my sensitive nature.

“In ‘The Bull’, I wanted to have a go because I was angry. I’ve put that behind me now. ‘Rian’ is a celebration of who we are. It’s post-economic meltdown. I was tempted to make a piece about the corruption that under wrote economic collapse. But I realised that by doing that, all I’d achieve would be adding to the pile of unpleasant stuff. I decided to do something that celebrates something higher and better in our nature.”

‘Rian’ has attracted favourable notices in London. “But some of the dance critics who have been very complimentary about my work over the past seven years, were a little disappointed that I didn’t have a narrative that highlighted the darker nature of humanity. But this show has been one of the most successful creations I’ve been involved with.”

Keegan-Dolan was a fan of Ó Maonlaí before he ever met him. He is grateful that the musician heightened his awareness of Ó Riada. “I read an essay by Peader Ó Riada about his father. I was really moved by it and curious about the legacy.”

Keegan-Dolan studied dance at the Central School of Ballet in London from the age of 18 to 22. “I’m pretty much self-taught but I’ve had very good teachers in dance, martial arts and yoga. I use a lot of the principles from those forms to unlock dance moves.

“With yoga, I find I get into a state where my mind dissolves a little bit and my personality recedes. In that state, I’m open to being inspired by external forces that aren’t Michael Keegan-Dolan’s egotistical view of reality. I’m more available to deeper impulses. I’m suspicious of people who are ego-driven creators. I don’t like seeing the mind of a choreographer or a director on stage. I like to see something higher, more universal.”

There was a time when Keegan-Dolan used to “grumble” about being born in Ireland where there isn’t a great history of dance. “But I’ve been very well taken care of here with great support from the Arts Council and Culture Ireland. Times are harder now but with international touring, I can keep things going.”

However, Keegan-Dolan says Arts Council cuts “are potentially devastating for dance. It’s the least well funded of all the arts in Ireland. I can’t say I’m not a little nervous. I think we need to be intelligent about the partnerships we make overseas. I’m going to become an associate director of Sadler’s Wells and we do co-productions with the English National Opera. Here, the next few years are not looking good. In the past few years, we’ve had cuts of 58%.

“But I’m managing to fill that gap with high profile partners beyond Ireland. You could say that ‘Fabulous Beast’ is very much doing its own thing.”